


Demon Song

by idreamofasriel



Category: Metal Slug (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 06:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12053181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idreamofasriel/pseuds/idreamofasriel
Summary: The Evil Spirit Incarnate demands a superior servant and it got eyes on Marco Rossi to be it. After the kidnapping, Marco has no memories of it and a series of supernatural attacks and demon sightings begin. It’s up to Tarma and the Squad to figure out what’s going on, where is this demon coming from, and why is Marco is always nowhere to be found.





	1. Chapter One

When The Evil Spirit Incarnate came to their world, The Regular Military did more than sending a demon back to its world, they have to fight a demon among themselves to save one of their own from becoming the Evil Spirit's servant. The Ptolemaios Army fought against The Regular Military to keep them from spoiling their Leader's plan and to gain a new Allie for The Evil Spirit Incarnate to control. A story of two sides fighting over the fate of one's soul from losing their human self and a forced rebirth as a monster.

Ptolemaic had a vision one night from The Evil Spirit Incarnate who demands an audience with The Cult Leader himself, so he rose from his bed and left his chamber and walked up the cold stone steps that spiral around the tower that reaches to the heavens and he stood staring up to the cold blacken sky for his master to show up. The beating of wings herald The Spirit's arrival and a glowing blue silhouette of The Evil Spirit Incarnate made its appearance to The Cult Leader. “Master, I have received your message and I came as swiftly as I can.” Ptolemaic bowed before it and his breath freezing in the air when he spoke.

Its red eyes stared down at Ptolemaic and it spoke in an icy whisper, “Ptolemaic....I seek for....a new servant.” Ptolemaic smiled, he is always glad to provide his master new soldiers to work and to die for their master's biddings and goals. For most of them are willing to join their side in name of defeating The Rebels and The Regular Military for seeing neither of them as the good guys in this war. “Certainly, Master. I'll have Dragunov and Yoshino go forth and-”

“NO!” The Evil Spirit Incarnate's outburst was so upcoming and fierce that it created an icy harsh wind that will chill anyone to the bone. It formed small frost across the floor and pillars and icicle formed on Ptolemaic's beard that he brushed away when the frost wind died down.”No human servant.....I seek....Demon Servant for the army.” Now this peaked Ptolemaic's curiosity on what his master wants but how to get any in their ever growing army is a good question, “But, master. How does one goes and finds a Demon to be your servant?” He asked and The Evil Spirit Incarnate raises its long bony like arms to create a vortex for Ptolemaic to peer into.

A blond hair man with thick strand of hair hanging over his face and wearing a bandanna and red vest appeared in The Evil Spirit Incarnate's vision, he was talking to his friend next to him who is drinking out of his canteen and they both moved out toward a nearby desert town that is over run by Abbu Abbas and his army. Eyes widen with shock and bafflement, Ptolemaic stepped away from the vortex and looked up at his master again. “Of all the powerful humans you could of picked, why Marchrius Dennis Rossi?” He hates to question his master but he has to know why would it picked Marco of all people in this world.

The Evil Spirit Incarnate raised his hand again to show him a vision of Marco's past and demonstrations of his strength, intelligence, and strong will to refuse to give up the fight at any odds. The Cult Leader Witnessed Marco taking a knife to the stomach to spare Tarma's life from Allen O'Neil's wrath and Tarma helping him to stop the bleeding from getting any worst. Raising a brow, seeing these events did help Ptolemaic to understand why his master picked Marco. The Vortex closed up again and low rumbling came from The Evil Spirit Incarnate, “Kill The human within......Birth the Demon in the man.”

“But how?” The Evil Spirit Incarnate thrust a hand into its chest and searched deep within itself and withdrew its hand out of its chest. Clutching in its hand is a scroll and it let it float down into Ptolemaic's hands. He unrolled it to see what is written on it and his eyes glide across the paper and he grin and rolled it back and tucked it away safely, “We'll get your plans in motion, Master.” He bowed to The Evil Spirit Incarnate. “Good......I'll return when it's done.”And with that, The Evil Spirit Incarnate took flight once again and disappeared into the darken sky. Ptolemaic walked down the stairs and at a fast pace, ran toward his chamber doors and flung them wide open and made his way toward their research lab.

The researchers who are working through the night stopped and saluted to their leader after he set foot in their research lab. “Ah, Master Ptolemaic. What is the honor we can do for you?” The head Researcher approached in with a bow. Ptolemaic reached for the scroll that The Evil Spirit Incarnate gave him and he unrolled it for them all to see. “The Master is seeking to turn a man into a Demon servant and he wants this formula made right away to push the plan along.” The Head researcher took the scroll gingerly and nodded.

“We'll get to work on it right away, Master Ptolemaic.” The Head Researcher spoke and they were all quick to get the formula made and ready for Ptolemaic's use and The Cult Leader smiled and leaves the Research Lab right away. He ran into a soldier along the way to the Briefing room and turned to the soldier, “I want you to go and fetch me Dragunov and tell her to meet me in the Briefing room right away. We got an order from The Master.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Gain way! We're coming through!” Tarma shouted as the Slug Camel runs through the streets of the desert town. Citizens yelled and jump out of Tarma's way as he carefully aims his Vulcan guns and took out any of Abul Abbas' soldiers and Rebels who dare to stand in his way. After Marco and Tarma arrived at the Sand Kingdom when they have gotten word that Abul Abbas is up to no good again, they split up to hunt him down and bring him back to justice. But their plans grew wary when they got outnumbered by Abul Abbas' soldiers and the Rebels and ended up fighting for their lives while hunting their commander down.

Tarma threw grenades at the Rebels' M-15A Bradley before finishing it off with The Slug Camel and ran through the clear path he made for himself. “I hope Marco is doing all right.” He muttered to himself and slashing at Rebel trying to jump on the Slug Camel. Marco has taken cover behind a stone wall and his radio crackled to life and a female voice spoke through it, “Marco, can you hear us?” said Fio and Marco grabbed his radio to speak through it, “I can hear you, Fio but I'm awfully busy right now.” he replied and fired back at some Rebels.

“Eri and I are on our way to help you guys out. Can you hold out any longer?” A bullet blew off a piece of wall and grazed itself across Marco's cheek. “ If Tarma doesn't make it here, I won't.” He replied and he felt like it was time to bring out the heavy guns to finish the shoot out. He grabbed for his Heavy Machine gun and started rapidly firing back at the Rebels and Arabians soldiers, He successfully dwindled down their numbers and some ended up giving up the fight and fled once Marco came out of his hiding spot.

He heard the beating of feet and quickly turned his gun on Tarma and lower it, “Took you long enough.” said Marco and Tarma grin at him, “Sorry I left my Motorcycle back at The Base. So I have to go with next fastest thing.” Tarma teased and patted the Slug Camel's side, making dust flying everywhere and Marco smiled a bit, “Come on, I know where Abul Abbas went and we better catch him quickly.” Tarma shooks the reins and yelled to get the Slug Camel going again and he followed Marco down the streets to a vacant town square. Everything has gone quiet and this puts them on edge. Marco took a few steps before jumping back when someone shot at the ground.

“You PF Dogs refuse to give up, do you?” Abul Abbas sneered at them with a Rebel pointing its Springfield Rifle at them. “Not when there are innocent people who homes are getting taken over by Rebel rats like you.” said Marco, getting ready to reach for his Heavy Machine at any minute. Tarma has his hand gun loaded and ready to fire if they dare to make the first move. Abul Abbas smirked, “You think you got me, eh? Put me in handcuffs and send me off to the nearest military prison where I'll rot away like spoiled meat. Think again, PF Dogs.”

The sky rumbled loudly and the sunlight suddenly disappeared under their feet and they both looked up to see the Keesi hovering above them with a Rebel Soldier armed with bazookas on each wing and they fired. Marco and Tarma dodged before the missiles struck the ground, leaving scorch marks and bits of rubble behind. Marco grabbed his Heavy Machine and fired at will at the Keesi's jet engines and ran when they increase power to burn him alive. Tarma has the camel running in circles, firing with his hand gun and the Vulcan guns at the Keesi and taking out one of the Rebels on the wing.

Not before they fired a missile and spooking the Slug Camel to blindly take off running and throwing Tarma off its back. Tarma made a quick recovery and continue on firing his gun at the Keesi. Marco cursed and tossed the empty Heavy Machine gun to the side and resorted back to using his handgun to fire at the Keesi and shooting down any soldiers coming out of it. The Ship moved higher and the jet engine increased fire again to try to fry Marco and Tarma down below.

“Give it up, PF Dogs. You're not going to win this fight!” Abul Abbas laughed and his whole belly shook and he stopped when he heard something flying toward them and soon the Keesi was getting struck by missiles and bullets from The Slug Flyers zooming above them. “They made it!” Marco shouted with delight and Eri swooped in to drop off two enemy chasers and Marco and Tarma looked at each other and grin. They picked up their weapons and open up their boxes. Both men, armed and ready to fight back harder than before stand side by side and open fire.

With all four of them working together, they took down The Keesi with no problem and watched the plane blowing up into scrap metal right before their eyes. Abul Abbas was sweating nervously and the Rebel yelled and fell to the ground after Eri shot him. The Commander didn't dare to turn around but he did and he was face to face with Eri and Fio, pointing their guns at his face with cheerful smiles. “Once again, Abul Abbas. You lost and no doubt wanting to run off to lick those old wounds again.” Fio giggled. All he can do is raised his hands and surrender.

“Let’s see what's behind door number two. Major?”

“Well, Tarma. It looks like stolen supplies for the town and our desert Head Quarters.” Marco replied in a fake announcer voice and they kicked the door down. Load and behold, the entire stock room was filled to the ceiling with supplies of food, water, medicine and Regular Military weapon stockade. Regular Military soldiers moved in a single file to grab everything they can find in there and loaded them up in separate trucks. One to take supplies to the town folks to passed out and the other to take to their Desert Head Quarters. Fio walked up to Marco after putting her radio away, “We got a jeep coming in to pick us up later tonight, Marco. I can't wait to get out of this heat after we help everyone out.”

She took her hat off to wipe the sweat off of her forehead and she saw a water canteen offered to her by Marco. He smiled at her and Fio thanked him and took a sip out of it. Marco then took a turn taking a sip out of it too and put it away. “Hey, Major. We just got a free room and food from their local Inn for helping them out and getting rid of the Rebels.” Said Tarma and he sat down a big crate full of food. “Well, that's nice of them to do that.” said Eri, carefully loading the truck up with grenades and explosives onto it.

“You know what? A nice meal and a comfortable bed sound good right about now.” said Marco, helping to load up the last of the supplies in the trucks and slamming the doors on it. He gave it a good bang on the door with his fist and the truck drove off instantly while the other one drove off into town. The Sun was setting and the temperature dropped quickly as the heat of the day disappeared. As the Squad walked toward the INN they were invited to stay in for free. (Knowing Fio, she'll pay for her food and bed anyways.) A Ptolemaic soldier crept out of the shadow and spoke into its radio, “I found him, Commander Dragunov. We're ready to move on to our next plan.”


	3. Chapter 3

“If I eat anymore, I'm going to have to add extra notches on my belt.” said Eri, leaning back on her chair after a big meal they were served up for saving the town. The owner of the INN brought every last dish on the menu for them to eat after they arrived and they talked the owner out of a free room now that they got a ride coming in soon to pick them up. Tarma was picking at his teeth with a toothpick and Fio was sipping on her cup of tea. Marco finished the last of his meal and he got up and stretched his arms out.

“I'm going to step out for a quick smoke.” He said and he stepped outside of the INN and leaned against a wall. He reached into his pocket and take out a pack of cigarette and gently tap the bottom to get one out of the package and then took his lighter and flicked it a few times to get the fire going. Before he could even light it up, he heard a scream coming from an alleyway and he closed up his lighter and discarded the cigarette and ran toward the direction of the scream. Gun in hand, Marco looked down the alleyway and took caution walking down in it. “Hello? Is anyone here?” Marco called out.

Marco tensed up and turned to face against Ptolemaic Guerrillas coming at him with melee weapons. It was an ambush and Marco fought them off. Gun firing and knife slashing, Marco is swarmed by them and he's going to fight them off till either they are all defeated or his Squad heard the gunshots and come running to help. “Hold still, Major Rossi.” Dragunov muttered, laying on the rooftop with her sniper rifle ready and aimed at Marco. She was ready to pull the trigger in case the Ptolemaic Guerrillas failed to capture him themselves.

Marco defeated the last one and he was breathing heavily from all the fighting he was doing. He barely took a step when he felt something small and sharp jab itself into his neck and he reached out and pulled it out. Grasping in his hand is a tranquilizer dart and judging by its size, the dosage was enough to knock out a grown man. The drug took effect quickly and Marco felt dizzy and his body weakening. The world around him was blurring together and he sees someone walking up calmly to him and ordered a few men to grab him and Marco blacked out.

A Special Force soldier dumped a bucket of ice water over Marco's head and he snapped wide awake screaming and shivering from the freezing water. The water dripped down his face and his wet shirt clinging to his chest and the grogginess he was feeling lifted away and he can focus again. He's in a small room of a hidden base, surrounded by people in gas masks walking around the room in a hurry for something. He couldn't see well no thanks to a single bulb hanging from the ceiling dimly lighting up the room and when he moved, chains rattled behind him and his legs won't budge from the spot but he did felt handcuffs around his ankles. He heard footsteps across the wooden plank floor and a door creaking open.

Marco looked up to see who it was that walked into the room and glared. Ptolemaios smirked and he was being followed by one of the Special Force grunts, carrying something in their hands that Marco couldn't see with Ptolemaios standing in the way. “Sorry for the rude awakening, Marchrius but we got business to do.” he said, studying Marco from top to bottom and paced around him in a full circle. “The only business you'll be doing is at the end of my fist once I get out of here.” Marco growled. This amused the Cult Leader and he gave Marco a twisted grin.

“Hmm, yes I can see why The Evil Spirit Incarnate picked you.” Ptolemaios snapped his fingers and his grunts moved forward to tear open Marco's shirt to allow him to inspect how healthy and well cared his body is, all he could see on him is a scar across his stomach where Allen O'Neil slashed his knife at him a long time ago. He grabbed hold of his mouth and opened them to inspected his teeth for any lost or broken ones and moved his fingers away quickly when Marco tried to bite down on them.

Marco thrashed about in his chair to try to free himself from his binds but at no prevail all thanks to the chains wrapped around his wrist and handcuffs around his ankles. Even the metal chair he was sitting in is bolted down to the floor. They thought of everything before they drugged Marco and brought him to this small secret base and he is not going to stick around to see what is Ptolemaios's plans he got for him.

“So I take care of myself. Why does that thing care?” Marco snarled at him and fights with the chains. Ptolemaios smirked and ordered the Special Force Grunt to stepped forward with a small box in their hands and he turned to open it. Marco doesn't like where this is going or that box's appearance. He can't see what Ptolemaios is holding in his hand that he's taking care not to drop. The Cultist Leader smirked and turned his gaze onto Marco again. In his hand is a glass bottle with the topper carved out of solid glass with wings and claws holding it in place. Inside the bottle, Marco can see the pure black liquid inside it and if they're going to give it to him, he's going to give them one Hell of a fight.

“You should feel honored, Marchrius. It's not every day that The Evil Spirit Incarnate picks a worthy body outside of the Ptolemaic Army.” Ptolemaios smiled and pulled the topper off. Marco cringed at the foul smell coming out of the bottle and fought against his chains again, “Sorry to break it you but I'm not interested becoming one of you sickos.” Marco snapped back at him and clenched his jaw shut to keep that foul drink from being poured down his mouth.

Ptolemaios wasn't amused by this and he ordered his grunts to step in and help him. As Marco was lashing out at them while keeping his mouth shut, they tried to pry his mouth open but ended up getting one of them bit hard by Marco. Ptolemaios said something to one of the grunts standing by in his native tongue and they stepped up to Marco, holding a dental surgical tool to help hold mouths open.

Marco can feel the metal in his mouth and his mouth forced open and they hold his head back by his hair. “Yes, you'll make a perfect servant for The Evil Spirit Incarnate, after all, Marchrius. Strong, smart, and stubborn to give up the fight.” He tilts the bottle over and the black liquid flowed into Marco's mouth. He coughed and gagged, feeling it oozing down his throat and into his stomach. He retched and wheezed when the last drop was gone and Ptolemaios points at his chains and cuffs and they obeyed.

Marco heard chains rattling and cuffs hitting the floor and he fell to his hands and knees, coughing in hopes he can get it out of his body in any way he can and wiped away the trickling remains of it from the side of his mouth. The whole room spun before him and blurred itself together and footsteps and voices were all but a muffle as if someone stuffed his ears with cotton. His throat is burning, his chest hurt, and his stomach aches in sharp stabbing pain. His mind in a confusing panic, not knowing what to do and his head hurts.

Marco's arms were shaking from weakness and he looked at his hands and clutched his head screaming after witnessing his hands turning into a pair of demonic hands. The motion is set, Ptolemaios' plan is going accordingly, and soon Marco will be forced to obey the call of The Evil Spirit Incarnate's Demon Song.

“Marco?”

“Are you okay?”

“Major, wake up!”

Marco slowly opened his eyes and groaned. He clutched the side of his head and needed help from Tarma to get up off the ground, “Wh-What happened?” he asked them and The Squad looked at each other with concern in their eyes and back at Marco, “We want to know that too. We heard gunshots going off and we ran out of the INN to investigate and the next thing we knew, we found you in the Alley Way unconscious.” said Fio, taking care to look over Marco for any injuries. Marco's mind is in a hazy and no matter how hard he tried to recall what happened, he ended up with a violent headache.

“I-I don't remember what happened and if I tried to recall it, I ended up with a terrible headache.” he rubbed the temples with his fingers to see if he can relieve himself of the headache and Tarma put a hand on his shoulder, “Don't worry about it, Major. I'm sure it'll come back to you. Our ride is here and let's get going.” They walked side by side with Marco toward the jeep. There was a foul taste in his mouth he couldn't get rid of and Eri offered him a piece of her gum to get rid of it.

Once everyone was in the jeep, they drove off to Head Quarters for the night and Dragunov watched them go till they are nothing but dust in the distance.


	4. Chapter 4

Home at last Marco thought to himself as he punched in the code to his computer lab. The door slide open and Marco comes tiredly into the lab. Marco's Computer Lab is a mess but it's always been like that since the start of the war. Computers and Laptops lined up against the walls on tables with their wires scattered everywhere and taped down to prevent tripping and injuries from happening. Next to the doorway to his bedroom is a large bookshelf overflowing with computer manuals and binders full of his past personal projects and coding he wrote and saved for future use or references.

Luckily for him, there was a couch nearby he had moved into his lab for anyone to sit down on when they visit him and he flopped himself onto it and wanting to fall to sleep. He barely dozed off when someone came knocking on his door and he lazily got up to answer it. Standing in his doorway is Tarma, carrying his combat knife in hand, “Say, Marco. Can I borrow your whetstone? I can't find mine anywhere.”

“Sure, Tarma. Come on in. It's on my workbench.” he said and he stepped to the side to let Tarma in and set back down on the couch. Marco's headache went away on its own and the foul taste in his mouth is gone thanks to the gum Marco borrowed from Eri earlier. But now he's feeling exhausted and blames it on their previous mission they finished and he's yearning to get some sleep right now. Tarma sharpening his knife against the whetstone and holds the blade up to the light to see how sharpen it is before giving it a good few more scraping against the whetstone.

“There, all ready to cut some Re-” Tarma dropped the knife and he let out a painful gasp that caught Marco's attention. “Tarma, are you all right?” Marco asked his friend with consideration for Tarma clutching his hand in agony. “I cut my hand while cleaning it.” he replied and Marco made a dash for his bedroom to fetch the first aid kit, “Okay, hold still while I...I....” Marco started feeling weird as if he wasn't himself. His eyes fixated on Tarma's cut on his palm and the blood oozing out of it. His mouth quivered and he licked his lips out of hunger and a newfound craving was rising.

“Hey, I'm bleeding here! Why the Hell are you standing there?” Marco snapped out of it and stared at Tarma and apologized to him. He cleaned the gash up with a medicine soaked cotton ball and wrapped it up with some bandages and gauze and took a rag to clean up the blood droplet off the floor. Tarma looked at his hand and then at Marco, “Are you sure you're feeling okay?” Tarma raising a concerned brow as Marco throws the rag and the small strips of bandages away in a trash bin. “Sorry, I-I didn't know what came over me like that.” said Marco, brushing away a strain of hair out of his face.

Tarma kneels down to pick up his knife carefully and put it back into its sheath. “It's okay, Marco. It's wasn't like we were in danger. Whatever happened to you in that alleyway really rattled your brain around. The alleyway, no matter how many times Marco tried to recall what happened back there, all he drew up was a blank and headaches. He closed his eyes tight and rubbed his head to stop a headache from happening. “You know what, Tarma. Maybe some fresh air will do me good.”

Marco was already out of his lab before Tarma could say another word. That weird craving was gone and he was feeling his normal self but he still can't get over what happened to him and why he was being offbeat. He handled blood many times before regardless if it was his or his friends and allies. He tried putting it behind him for now and having thoughts about visiting a Doctor to check him over to find what's wrong with him. Marco slowed down his pace and he sniffed the air. A mouth-watering aroma of meat teased his stomach and he followed the smell of it straight toward the kitchen.

Fio and Eri were chatting while they put grocery away and sitting out in the middle of the table were some packages of raw steaks. Well cut and wrapped up in butcher paper, Marco couldn't help but reach out for one of the steaks. “Oh, Marco. You're just in time to help me properly prepare the meat for tomorrow's meal.” Fio smiled and Marco quickly withdrew his hand away from the steaks and clear his throat, “Oh, I am-am I?” he said sheepishly and Fio happily nodded, “All we're doing is cutting the steak off the bone and then putting them away in the fridge to keep them fresh for dinner.” Marco swallowed and couldn't keep his eyes off of the steaks.

Fio grabbed one and unwrapped it and Eri bid her goodbye to them before leaving the kitchen. It looks so delicious to Marco and his mouth was watering and his mind urging him to eat it. Fio opened the kitchen drawer up and took out some kitchen knives for her and Marco to use and neatly placed them on the counter and got the cutting boards out, “Okay, Marco. Let's-” Fio's eyes widen to the shock of Marco holding a steak in his hands and his teeth sinking into the meat. Having no clue about what's going on, Fio laughed awkwardly, “Marco, you're supposed to cook it. I guess I'll have to cut around the teeth marks and-”

“NO!” Marco roared at her while aggressively clutching the steak away from her in his hands like a hungry lion. Fio recoiled out of fear and backed away from Marco, “Marco, what is wrong with you? You didn't have to get nasty with me!” said Fio, feeling hurt over Marco’s outburst. There it was again, that offbeat feeling he got earlier with Tarma and his cut and now he's lashing out at Fio over food. Bewildered for what he did, he dropped the steak onto the floor and kept apologizing to Fio for his unnecessary outburst and stumbled out of the kitchen and ran down the hallway.

“What the Hell is wrong with you, Marco Rossi?” he scolded himself. Marco stopped to catch his breath and wiped the sweat from his brow. A cool breeze from the night blew through him and he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Once he's feeling better again, he's going back to that Kitchen and apologize properly to Fio for what he did. He leaned himself against a wall and reached into his pocket for his cigarette box and lighter and to his dismay, his cigarette box is empty and he discarded the carton into a trash bin. He closed his eyes to focus on the sound of nature around him in hopes it'll help him relax.

He can hear frogs croaking and crickets chirping with a lone owl hooting from the distance. As he focuses on those sound, he opened his eyes when a haunting hypnotic melody wavered through the air and drowning out the animals noises of the night.

No one saw Marco for the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

“So how was your day, Beaty?”

“Oh, fine. That fathead, Allen O'Neil Junior got into that fight with his Ex-Girlfriend's husband again as usual. But the mission did go all right.”

Abigail and Beatrice have the kitchen all to themselves and they enjoy cooking food together. It was Abigail who requested the kitchen to be cleared out of any chefs after all of the soldiers and General Morden were fed for the night. The kitchen smelled of freshly cooked chicken and bread and Beatrice helped her sister sliced up the celery for the Chicken Dumpling they talked about having for supper for tonight. “So, how was your day Abigail? Did you see your boyfriend of yours?”

Abigail was blushing, thinking about Trevor Spacey makes the woman's face go red whenever that member of the PF Squad's name is mentioned to her. Even getting a glimpse of his face would turn this disciplines military commander into a shy giggling school girl. “I umm, didn't see him this time around. I was busy dealing with that Loser Abbas who needed his hide saved again by us.” She put the diced onions into the pot with the bread and chicken and stirred it. Beatrice soon put the chopped celery in too. “No carrots?” she asked and her sister smiled, “No carrots, Beaty. Not a single trace of it. Just the way you like it.”

“I will NOT tolerate any more of your failure, Abul Abbas!” General Morden slammed his fist against his desk so impetuous that it made the sergeant jump out of fright, “Please forgive me, General! I almost have them if it wasn't for those women coming into-” Morden was glaring down at him while drinking his glass of scotch and slams it down on his desk, “ENOUGH! I don't care if it was a horde of monkeys with machine guns that came after you, Abul Abbas. You have been messing up too many times and we have to save you disgrace ass every time Marco and his Squad defeat you!”

Allen O'Neil smirked, General Morden was right about what a disgrace Abul Abbas was to The Rebel Military and they always wonder why do they always bother saving his him countless times. He caught movement from the corner of his eye and turned his head toward the large windows that look over the entire Head Quarters, he could have sworn that he saw a dark silhouette glided past the windows. Gripping his gun, Allen O'Neil stepped forward to get a better look and stretched his neck out to get a better look outside, “O'Neil, what is the problem?” General Morden asked him. Allen O'Neil grunted and stepped away, “I thought I saw something flew by your window. Must have been a bat.” he replied.

A lone Rebel soldier patrolled the Warehouses. Checking every lock on the doors and rolling shutters and moves on to the next warehouse to do the same and it's nothing but a repetitive job. The Rebel sighed and checked on the doors again and then moved to the next one to find the lock on the ground melted into a puddle of metal and the door opened ajar. He grabbed his gun and pushed the door open to get a look around and groped for a switch and no lights came on and he grabbed his flashlight and turned it on.

The switch was taken apart with wires slashed and pulled out of the box and the security camera and alarm laid on the ground in pieces as if someone took it apart with tools. The Rebel quietly steps into the Warehouse to catch the intruder off guard, peaking around cargo and crates and tanks too. Nothing so far and the Rebel took more steps toward the back of the warehouse. A pair of glowing amber eyes glowed in the dark and it slowly and silently crept across the ceiling rafters and down the wall like a spider. It put one hand down and then a foot and softly landed on the floor.

“Alright, thief! You better show yourself or I'm getting all of my friends here to shoot you out!” he shouted, he heard a low rumbling growl and he slowly turned around and saw a flash of fire. Abigail and Beatrice weren't even halfway through with their dinner while having their conversation about their childhood and plans for the future when a siren started blaring and soldiers scrambling toward the flaming warehouse. Abigail got up quickly and grabbed her hat and coat and Beatrice grabbed her cap and they both dashed out the door. The whole warehouse is on fire and the Rebels are scrambling to put the flames out and shouts of commands echoed through the air.

“How did this fire started?” Abigail came running toward a commanding Rebel leader, “Ma'am, we heard a scream follow by a loud explosion from this warehouse and we're working as fast as possible to put out the fire!” Abigail turned to her sister who got her ice cannon in hand and ready to fire to put the fire out. She aimed carefully and before she has it fired, a spine-chilling roar came from the fire and bursting through the flame is a flying figure engulfed in flames and taking flight. It dive bombs at the now scattering Rebels and breathing fire on their water pumps and at them.

Abigail grabbed her sister and pulled her to the ground to dodge the fire and looked up to try to get a good look at their attacker. She got up to her feet again and summoned her cubes to shoot lasers at it but it kept dodging and swooping down to swipe at them with it flaming claws and setting them on fire and Abigail yelled when one of them exploded and she hit the ground, “Abigail!” Beatrice shouted and she turned her anger that the flying monster and fired her ice cannon at it. It hit the target, freezing one of its wings to throw it off balance and crashing to the ground.

“Serves you right to try to hurt my sister!” She shouted and she gasped when it got right back up and smashed the ice off with its fist. Abigail got back on her feet and ordered more lasers to be shot at it, punching holes in its wings and it breathed more fire at the girls. “Beaty! Look out!” Beatrice screamed and she felt a strong grip on her arm and being yanked off her feet. “No one is going to fry this shrimp!” Allen O'Neil Junior growled and punched the demon with a right hook.

It stumbled and shook it off and roared at Allen O'Neil Junior who came running at the demon and tackled it to the ground. They tossed and turned across the ground as Rebel soldiers cheered their commander's son on. Allen O'Neil Junior endure the pain of his back getting shredded up by its claws and then put it in a headlock to keep punching it in the face. But he yelled after it sank its sharp teeth into his fist and he let it go to free himself. Allen O'Neil Junior took a glance at his arm to give the demon a chance to land a painful landing blow to the gut with its fist to not only to knock the wind out of him but to give him sharp stabbing pain.

“Allen, look out!” Beatrice shouted but it was too late, Allen O'Neil Junior was violently hit hard by the demon's tail and knocked to the ground. It didn't give him a chance to fight back and he left every landing blow of its fist, over and over again. His endurance was beyond its limit and his body couldn't take the beatings and clawings anymore. Abigail and Beatrice looked on in horror while Rebel is at a lost as they see him getting ripped to shreds. Allen O'Neil Junior was a bloody mess and the demon grabbed him by his blood-soaked shirt to get ready to finish him off.

The demon took a deep breath to build up a powerful enough fire to burn him alive. Gunshots rapidly rang throughout the air followed by bullets, lasers, and ice. Allen O'Neil comes charging with his M60 in hand, firing more bullets at the demon, “Don't touch my son!” he shouted and slammed the butt of his gun right in its jaws. It stumbled backward and shook it off and glared around the fighting field. It was outnumbered now even if the demon can kill them all.

As its last hurrah before fleeing, for now, it breathed fire all over itself and engulfed its body in flames again and took flight. Everyone kept firing at it and it flew at a fast-paced speed that it dive bombed into another warehouse and another, setting everyone one of them ablaze in its wake. There wasn't enough water to go around to put them all out and everyone fled before explosions were going off in some of them. Allen O'Neil, after grabbing his son and escaping with their lives, laid his son and listened for any sign of life. It's not good, Allen O'Neil Junior's life is hanging by a thread.

“Get the medics! I'll shoot anyone who doesn't hurry up and get him help!” Allen O'Neil shouted and held his son's hand while pleading for him to hold on and begged him not to die. Beatrice hugged her sister as they looked on and her older sister moved in to see what she can do to help Allen O'Neil Junior out. He did save her sister's life and he can't die like this. As the discord of the night continued on, the Demon Song played till the first ray of sunlight shined.


	6. Chapter 6

On a cool gray morning, fog flowed down from the mountains and pooled itself into the woods and poured out onto the grounds of the now abandoned Rebel Head Quarters. The desolated place is still smoldering and dust being blown around by the wind but this doesn't bother Yoshino all thanks to her gas mask she put on to keep the smoke and the dust out of her eyes and lungs in the middle of their investigation.

Following her from behind is Special Force to help gather up data while the Guerilla soldiers waited out in the woods in case anyone comes near to investigate the destroyed location. Words have already spread about The Rebels ambushed by an unidentified demon and how it put Allen O'Neil Junior in a hospital under critical condition. Yoshino surveyed the wreckage and kicked away a brunt out fire rocket. She crouched down and examined a shredded and melted laser cube and then spotted something red on the ground.

She brushed her fingers across a dried up pool of blood and followed the trail to the edge of the woods where a second dried pool of blood stained the grass. She let out a quick huff and straighten herself up, “Time to confirm the rumor to be true and take that shredded cube back to base for further examination. We need every detail on how powerful The Evil Incarnate's soon to be servant is to him and-” She heard talking coming their way and she waved her hands to tell everyone to quickly go into hiding and wait.

She leaped up into the trees and waited with a Guerilla sniper, rifle in hand and ready and the voices grew louder. Ptolmaios gave them orders capture Marco on sight if he was alone and gave them the option to either stun or kill his friends if they're with him. Finger on the trigger, ready to be pulled with a fresh tranquilizer dart loaded. Yoshino's eyes widen when she heard a female voice accompanying the male voice and put her hand on the rifle, “It's not him.” she said through the muffling of her mask and the Sniper lower his gun by her command.

Trevor Spacey and Nadia Cassel came into view and they moved Rubble around to in hopes of finding any clues and they would move on to the next remains of the warehouse. “We're facing more demons now?” said Nadia, trying to lift a half broken block up by her bare hands and Trevor helped her out, “The next thing we'll be fighting up against are dragons or wizards.” Trevor sighed and agreed with her, “I swear, this war gets crazier by the minute and we're all stuck in it till we win.” He lifted up a slab of a wall and they stared in silence before Trevor laid it back down and walked toward to the next warehouse, “Poor, unfortunate soldier.” Trevor muttered

“Burn to the crisp like a piece of fried chicken.” she said and quickly changed the subject, “So, Trevor. Any word on your lady caller?” she teased and Trevor blushed and tried to hide it with the collar of his vest. Ever since Abigail gave him that hickey on his neck after helping her out to free the Mars People from Dragunov and Yoshino's grasp and knocking some senses back into Rootmar, Tarma was first to spot the hickey and blabbed it to everyone all over the base.

Even the serious Marco Rossi would tease him once in awhile as they work on computers together and asked him who she was which causes Trevor to either spill something on purpose or fake his tablet going off to make him get away from him as fast as possible. If anyone got word that the woman who gave him that hickey was Abigail of The Rebel Military, it would be nothing but chaos for the two.

This time Trevor faked a coughing fit and blamed it on the dust and smoke and Nadia sighed playfully, “You can't hide her forever, Trevor. One of these days, we're going to find out who's this lady friend of yours is and make you introduce her to us.” Trevor coughed harder, “I think you already have in the past.” Nadia raises a brow, “What did you say?” She asked him with her arms crossed and Trevor cleared his throat, “I said I think you passed something important over there.” Nadia bought it and they moved on to the next ruined warehouse.

“You look like Hell today, Major. Did you sleep at all last night?” Marco was flushed and exhausted to the point of that he was about to fall asleep right where they stand. They searched around Morden's vacant office and check every corner of it for any top secret files that could have been left behind by accident or any clues about this said demon that attacked. Marco could barely remember what happened last night and he we woke up wit his mouth tasting like smoke.

He assume it came from his cigarette and got ready for the day and it wasn't everyday that they would wake up to a report of The Rebel Base getting ambushed by a unknown demon and they have to investigate on what it is and where it came from. So far they got nothing and they split up for a better chance of finding it. “Ah, Major. Could you come over here and use your mad hacking skills on this security computer.” Marco nodded off and woke up and walked toward the computer and type away at lighting fast speed.

Tarma frowned after getting a better look at how Marco was up close and personal. His face was rather flushed and struggling to keep his eyes open from the lack of sleep and it didn't help that his eyes were starting to develop a bloodshot appearance. “Have you thought about seeing a doctor to get yourself checked out?” Tarma asked him and the typing slowed to a stop and Marco pressed the enter key, “I'm thinking about doing it after this mission.” he replied and a disc popped out of the machine and Marco grabbed it and got up.

“You have been off ever since we got back from the Sand Kingdom. Maybe you caught something while we were fighting or something.” Marco got out of the computer chair and walked toward the door and thinks, “Maybe you're right, Tarma. I'll bring that up during my Doctor visit.” He smiled a bit at him and open the door. As they regroup, everyone but Marco and Tarma turned up empty handed and agreed to return back to the base. After they left, Yoshino jumped out of the tree and signals her troop to come out of hiding. “Change of plans,” she said, looking at the sun setting over the mountain, “We'll grab him later tonight.”

Back at the base, Tarma bid everyone a goodbye for now before heading off to his room. He unlocked the door and swung it open. Even though Tarma's garage was a mess but, to everyone's surprise, he kept his room clean and tidy at all times and not a single article of clothing on the floor. His walls are covered with Classic Rock bands and Motorcycles along with a large map of his home country of Japan and stacks of motorcycle magazines all lined up in bookshelves. He has a steamer trunk at the foot of his bed that his grandfather used and his father and now he uses it to keep his belongings in. He even has a dresser with a framed picture of Eri smiling seductively while laying on his motorcycle and a picture of his grandfather and another of his parents.

He took his boots off and set them down to the side and put his slippers on before walking into his room and he crouched down and open up the trunk and grabbed a baseball jersey for the Hokkaido Fighters and grabbed his MP3 Player with an international radio on it. His team is playing right now and he has to see who's winning. He put his earbuds on and turn the MP3 Player on. The station was already set and he flopped himself down on the bed and closed his eyes to listen in.

“Just in time.” He grinned after the announcer speaking in Japanese announced that the game will be starting. Tarma relaxed on his bed and lost himself into the game and smiling once in awhile when they got a hit. As the game was building up, Tarma leaped out of his bed when he heard a loud booming crash coming somewhere in the base and dashed out of the room to find the source.


	7. Chapter 7

Trevor was reading a book when he heard a loud booming crash that almost made him jump out of his bed and cast his book to the side as he ran for the door, gun in hand. Even Nadia came out of her room, holding a bag of chips and one chip already sticking out of her mouth. “You heard it too, Nadia?” he asked and she nods her head and crunch up the chip in her mouth and grab her gun too. Even Fio and Eri came out to see where that loud noise was coming from and Tarma soon ran up to join them. “Anyone know where it came from?” Tarma asked and no one has a clue where it came from.

They fell silent when they heard metal clanking against each other and they crept toward the source of the sound, it was coming from the kitchen and they surrounded the door with Tarma leading the group. Eri pushed the door open and they moved in, guns were drawn and Fio flipped the switch on and gasped, “My Kitchen! I had this whole place cleaned from top to bottom today!” The kitchen is a wreck. Pots and pans scattered everywhere, covers ripped off their hinges, and they found out what caused the source of the loud crashing boom, a fridge has been tipped over and its doors torn off, spilling food everywhere.

This made poor Nadia gasped in horror as she saw food spilled all over the place and picking some of them off the ground. While she was reaching for a can of whip cream, she stopped and looked at the turkey near her, “Tarma. Everyone. Come look at this turkey.” she said and they gathered around it. Sure enough, they were huge teeth and claw marks and chunks of turkey ripped off of the bird and it wasn't the turkey that was assaulted, Fio picked up a big ham who also fell victim of someone or something's huge appetite and everyone's eyes widen.

“Are we dealing with a bear?” Eri shouted in shock, “I doubt it since these teeth marks don't belong to any bear I know,” said Tarma, inspecting the teeth marks with his sunglasses lowered, “They don't even belong to a Cougar, Lynx, or a Bobcat.” he took the ham from Fio and set it on the counter, “Then what are we dealing with?” Trevor asked and they heard claws scratching against the glass and a window pane shattered. All at once, they turned their guns toward the window and saw glass all over the floor and the window sill destroyed.

They ran toward the window and all they could see is a faint figure flying off into the distance, “Someone better get Marco and tell him what happened.” said Tarma and Trevor volunteered to get him.

Heidern has a said nightly ritual before going to bed. Check up on security, read and file any reports that need to be done or it's urgent to take care of before the next day, and last, check up on Leona. It's an old fatherly habit that refuses to die even long after his wife and daughter were killed. He has done the same with Leona when he adopted her. He knocked first on her door and check for any light coming from the crack of her door to see if she's awake and quietly open the door to peak in.

Leona slept in her bed peacefully wearing a hooded sweater when it was cold at night and he smiled a bit and closed the door and walked away. All was calm at Head Quarters and he headed for his room but paused when he heard metal scraping and things being pushed and tossed around. He placed his hand on his gun but before he could push open the door, he heard two sets of footsteps coming toward him. “Who's making all that damn racket? I'm trying to sleep.” said Ralf, half groggy from his sleep and Clark following him from behind.

Soon Leona joined them while yawning, “What are you boys doing making all of that noise?” She asked while rubbing her eyes from sleepiness, “We're just about to find out, Leona.” Heidern replied and he pushed the door wide open and they came in with Heidern leading the group with his gun drawn out. Even if the other three were unarmed, they can still put up an incredible fight and take anyone down with no problem. They walked through their supply room and they found one of the doors with the hinges burned and melted off and the door laying on the ground.

Eyes widen and Heidern put his gun away to inspect a dead body of a Ptolemaic Special Force, even removing their gas mask to see their face and searching their pouches on their belt to find anything to identify who they are or why are they here but no luck on their investigation. “Strange, why is there a Ptolemaic soldier in our base and who killed them?” Heidern rubbed his chin, “We didn't find any blow torches or explosives on him or any other way that they got in,” said Ralf, folding his arms, “But who's been making all of that noise?”

A lid of a crate was lifted up and lightly moved to the side, a claw hand grabbed hold of the lid's corner and it slid down just enough that it won't alert its prey. A tail draped over the crate and a pair of claws grabbed hold of the edge and pulled itself out with one foot on the ground at a time. It drew close, raising its claws to get ready to strike Leona down. The Demon attack but Leona already sense its appearance and block its swiping claws with a quick swift kick, alarming the rest of the group.

“I guess we found our killer.” said Clark, cracking his knuckles and getting ready to fight it along with the rest. The Demon roared and breathed fire at them but they dodge the oncoming fireballs and they move in to take it down. Ralf caught its tail and swung the Demon like a rag doll against the walls, leaving dents where he slammed it against. The Demon stuck its claws out to dug them into the wall to push itself off it, freeing its tail from Ralf's grasp and sent him stumbling backward with one mighty swing of its tail. Clark lands a powerful punch right on its chest with Heidern and Leona moving in to land series of kicks and punches on it.

Heidern's leg got grabbed by the Demon and felt his whole body thrown up into the air and crashing right into a light fixture and then his torso smacking against a ceiling beam. Leona landed a kick on its jaw to free Heidern from its grasp and the Demon return a favor by breathing fire right at her. She yelled and Ralf came running and jumped to deliver a landing kick onto the Demon's back, making the monster stumble and then regain its balance. It roared and breath fire all over the room, setting crates on fire and raising the room's temperature, The Ikari Warriors are sweating and fighting through it. Clark ran up from behind it and wrapped his arms around it, holding on tight to keep it from freeing itself.

“Don't let it escape!” Heidern yelled and grab for its left wrist and Ralf grabbed its tail again. Leona grabbed its right wrist and all four of them fought long and hard to keep this monster from fighting. It let out a fierce roar and suddenly threw them all off its body. It let out swirling spout of fire to engulf its entire body but it was put out right away when the sprinkler system kicked in and the fire alarm blaring. It distracted it long enough for all four of them to move in with Ralf using his Vulcan punch and Leona using her cutting auras to leave nasty gashes.

Clark was about to grab them when someone threw in a smoke bomb canister and flooding the whole room with smoke. They were coughing and closing their eyes tightly and they can hear voices coming from outside to move in to grab the Demon. The Demon grunted and burn a hole into the shutter door and took flight, only to be shot down with a net and hit the ground, struggling and roaring while being surrounded by Ptolemaic Special forces with taser rods and tranquilizer guns in hand. “Don't hurt him unless we have to!” Dragunov shouted and Yoshino stepped forward to inspect the Demon.

She smirked, “We got him! Someone drug him before-” A fierce roar was heard and the net was shredded into pieces and the Demon turned and overpower their soldiers, either killing them or sending them flying into the air. It swung its tail but missed Yoshino and Dragunov and then took flight into the night sky.

Out of frustration, Yoshino yanked her gas mask and chucked onto the ground so hard that it shattered the lens on her mask and Dragunov was attempting to shoot it out of the sky with a dart but Yoshino stopped her, “What if it falls out of the sky and breaks its neck?” Yoshino shouted and Dragunov lower her gun. Yoshino was right and she watched the Demon fading off into the distance.

“So now what? We got not Demon to take back to The Evil Spirit Incarnate.” Dragunov growled and Yoshino thinks and sighed, “If we don't grab him again like this, we'll have no choice but-” They heard shouting coming from The Ikari Warriors and Dragunov singles everyone to flee. As they took off into the night, Dragunov looked over at Yoshino, “We either try this again for another night or go with your other plan, invade the Regular Military Head Quarters and grab him.”


	8. Chapter 8

Earlier before what happened to the kitchen, The Squad got back to the Base and as promised, Marco headed straight to the Hospital Wing to get a full check over to see what is wrong with him and why he's been tired lately. It was normal for him to feel like this after a long day of fighting and all he needed is either a good night sleep or a pick me up from a cup of coffee. The Doctors examined him over and took some blood test with his result coming back clean. For extra per caution, they even check him over for any signs of cancer or tumors and they too can back negative for them.

This was driving Marco nuts and all they can do for him is prescribe some pills to help him sleep and advice him to cut back on his drinking and smoking and what food he's been eating. He took their words and he was willing to do anything to make himself feel better and on his way out, he discarded his carton of cigarette right into the trash bin as he walked by it and headed straight to his room. He'll tell his friends in the morning about what the Doctors said after a good night sleep.

He looked down at his bottle of pills they gave him and read them carefully since he takes panic attack pills to make sure they won't clash with each other and make thing worst for his already health situation. He stood in front of his computer lab door and punched in the code and door slide open, but he didn't enter, let alone moved at all. That haunting melody is back again, the same one he heard last night that put him in a deep trance. His mind began to fog up, he was losing the control of his body and he walked away from his Computer Lab, leaving the door open and not returning to close it.

Sunlight shined through the Garage windows and a ray of light shone over Marco's face. It made the man squint his eyes shut and let out a painful moan. His body ached as if he was beaten in his sleep and his mouth tasting like soot and he kept smacking his mouth to rid of the taste. Trevor was first to find him and ran toward him while shouting his name that barely echoed through the garage, “Major, thank goodness we found you. We couldn't find you anywhere after we found your Computer Lab door wide open. We thought that the intruder got to you.”

Marco's mind wasn't fully awake and he looked at Trevor and trying to process everything he said just now to him. He did recall opening his Computer Lab door but everything else he was drawing a blank. But his mind kept taking him back to a blurry room with muffling voices coming in and out and he held his head when a pounding headache starts throbbing, “Major, are you all?” Trevor panicked and kneel next to Marco to check for any serious injuries on him, “I-I just got a whopping headache is all. I can't remember what happened last night and you said that everyone was looking for me?” he said, slowly getting off the ground and Trevor helping him getting him on his feet.

“Yes, sir Major. Captain Roving sent me to get you after we had an intruder break into our Head Quarters and raided our kitchen. Then it took off through the window.” Marco rubbed the temples on his head and sighed, “Let's check the security footage and see who it was and track them down.”

Marco wasn't the only one who had that idea in mind. After the door swung open, he found the rest of the Squad already hovering over the control panel and Eri typing away at the computer to bring up any last night security footage that she could find, “There you are, Marco! I'm glad to see that you're all right. Where were you last night?” Tarma said with the mixture of relief and concern for his friend's disappearance, “Trevor came back running and yelling about you being nowhere to be found and your Computer Lab door was open.” Marco walked toward them and took a spot next to Fio, “Sorry to scare you all. I wish I have an answer to explain what happened last night but-”

“It's okay, Marco. We got the last night security feed on screen and it'll tell us where you went and who's intruder is.” Eri pressed the play button and the feed began to play. It started off slow and nothing happening and Eri speed it up a bit and she stopped and brought it at normal speed. Marco was walking toward his room and entered the code to unlock the door but then he stopped and turned away. This raised a lot question and they hoped to get an answer soon out of the feed. Marco was about to walk away in the feed when the screen started to glitched up, flickering, and then the image began to disturbingly warping Marco on screen and everyone all covered their ears when a loud, high pitched screeching noise sounding inhuman to the human ear. Marco was the only one who didn't cover his and his eyes glazed over and he heard a demonic voice.

“Kill the man within. Birth the Demon in the man.”

Those words were followed by a blood-curdling scream and Eri moved out of her chair when the first monitor shattered and shot sparks out of it and one by one, the monitors are shattering and shooting sparks all over the place, setting off the fire sprinkler system with smoke pouring out of the now broken monitors. The downpour of water snapped Marco back into reality and he dashed out of the room soak and wet. Fio grabbed her cap and tried to rein the water out of it and shook any drops off of it. Eri did the same with her bandanna, “Great, now we got no evidence on what happened to Marco or who the intruder was.” she muttered, squeezing water out of her hair.

“All we got this morning is a scouting report about General Morden's new ware about and the location of his new hiding spot.” said Nadia, undoing her pigtails so her hair can dry properly. “All right then, everyone. Go change into some dry clothes and meet back here to plan our next move for our new mission.” said Marco and he walked away to his room. Tarma stared at his friend walking away and he wanted to follow him to make sure that he's all right and check up on him and his health. His wet clothes were going to wait until he caught a cold chill and headed back to his room for a quick change.

“Get me another damn punching bag!”

“But, sir! You just busted up the-”

“Don't you argue with me or I will use YOU as one!”

The Rebel solider gulped and his body was trembling at the morbid thought of being beaten by Allen O' Neil's fists. The Rebel ran off to find anything for Allen O' Neil to thrash to pieces with his punching or to fire his M60 at and when he does go for his gun in rage, everyone is sent running from him. All the Rebel could find is a training dummy they use to practice melee attacks on and Allen O' Neil did short work on it and demanded another one with veins popping out of his neck and head.

Allen O' Neil is mad as Hell and it's a no-brainer over why he's taking his anger out on every object in sight and sending Rebel Soldiers running for cover during his rampage and his endless training since they arrived at their new base. Allen O' Neil Junior is still fighting for his life. He went through a long agonizing surgery and he hasn't woken up from it. His father is filled with concern grief for his boy and a raw mixture of revenge and choler on the Demon who almost killed him.

Abigail watched all of this from a safe distance couldn't help but sigh and knew that trying to talk him will be a waste time since she tried it already earlier when he was abusing every last punching bag he went through, “You can't talk me out of this, woman! I don't care what brainiac logic you got going through your pretty head of yours cause when I find that abomination, I am going to tear its limbs off and pump him full of bullets”

 

She turned with her arms folded behind her back and walked away, heading to her room. Morden gave her an important task to go into the City to see if she can find out when the Demon will strike again and when to be prepared for it next time. She opened her door with a key card she carries with her and stepped into her clean and organized room and walked toward her armoire and swung the doors open.

She has pictures of Trevor taped on the inside of the door to prevent anyone but herself from seeing them and they were copies of past spying missions or pictures she ripped from The Regular Military's computers before Marco and Trevor put heavy security on their computers. She softly smiled at a picture of Trevor posing for the camera in his black turtleneck sweater, clean blue jeans pants, and polished boots as he leans against a balcony railing at some fancy restaurant or dinner party.

She hung her uniform up with extra care and remove her Rebel emblem necklace from her neck so we won't have an angry mob chasing her and her sister around the city. She put on some civilian clothes and brushed out her hair and put on a light layer of makeup with a necklace and earrings. Perfect, she'll blend in among the citizens with no problem. She headed straight for her sister's room and knocked and Beatrice answered. Abigail smiled, “Ready to go, Beatty?”


	9. Chapter 9

The Rebels and the Ptolemaic Army are no longer alone in their Demon hunt all thanks to the Ikari Warriors making a visit to the Squad's Head Quarter to share their experience of their last night event. The Squad found it puzzling when Ralf and Clark told them about the dead intruder they found in their storage room. “Now why would a Special Force soldier from the Ptolemaic Army doing in your storage room?” said Marco, rubbing his chin, “ But yet, you said that they were after this Demon but they ran off the minute when the smoke cleared up.”

Ralf was leaning against the wall and sighed, “You got that right, Major Rossi. It makes you wonder what those nutjobs are up to and what they want with that demon.” It did give the Squad a better look into what happened to them last night. “I'm getting an odd feeling that these events are connected with each other.” said Eri, putting together the stories and past reports they been getting for the past few days and opens her eyes and look at everyone, “First, we got the rumors of The Rebels' base getting attacked by this demon and now you two are telling us that you got attacked by the same creature. I don't think this is some coincidence and the Ptolemaic Army has got to be behind these attack.”

“So you're saying that our uninvited visitor from last night might have been that Demon as well?” Fio's eyes widen with horror and Tarma shrugged, “No doubt it with those huge teeth and claw marks it left behind on our food. What do you think, Major?” Marco thinks it over, lips moving but yet not opening while deep in thoughts with his eyes closed and then he opened his eyes, “What we need to do is find vital information on what the Ptolemaic Army is up to and what they know about these attacks. Round everyone up and let's plan our next move.”

Abigail and Beatrice made a good move to remove their Rebel emblems off of themselves before they changed into their civilian clothes. Beatrice feels nervous and clings to her sister's arm, eyes locked on some of the anti-Rebel propaganda that this city is promoting and the sisters could have sworn that they saw smoldering burned remains of a dummy that looked like Morden with a tightening noose around his neck and discarded in an ally among the trash. “This is creeping me out, Abigail. Let's find what we're looking for and get out of here.”

Abigail was crossed about how these people are treating Morden and his army but if she dares to speak up about it, they would be hunting her and her sister down like wild animals and ending up like the Morden Dummy. But her sister's feeling and safety are more of her concern right now. As a strong headed Commanding Officer, she put her work and Morden's commands first but as a sister, she puts her sister's safety and feeling first before her's. She warmly smiles at her sister and gently strokes her hair, “How about we swing by the bakery and get you an apple fritter and a warm cup of cider and take a break from our work?”

Trevor Spacey browsed through the wide variety of pastries and glancing over at Nadia drooling over the today's cakes and pies. Trevor chuckled and he grabbed a fresh empty bag and picked out a few chocolate glazed doughnuts with sprinkles for himself and some long johns with maple frosting glaze for Nadia to snack on. He did grab another bag and look at the display of cookies and thought about getting some for himself to snack on later tonight in bed. “Ready, Nadia?” Trevor asked her and stared when he witnesses her buying a whole chocolate turtle cake for herself.

“How do you managed to keep your weight down while you’re eat everything in sight?” Trevor asked her and she shrugs, already a slice of the cake in her mouth, “I just exercise daily while I fight evil. That's all I got to say.” she replied and licked her fingers. Trevor shook his head and paid for his purchase and held the door open for Nadia to walk out since her hands were full with the said cake.

Abigail reached a hand out to grab hold of the door's handle and she backed away when Trevor swung the door open for Nadia and she froze with awe, mouth hanging open a bit and her eyes sparkle with happiness to see the man of her dream. Short sleeve blue shirt with blue jean pants and black belt and dark gray tennis shoes. His white hair brushed but the bangs always falling in front of his face. She always have that strong desire to reach out and gently brush them off to the side and cup her hand on his cheek to prepare herself for a sweet deep kiss from him.

Beatrice growled and harshly gaze at him walking by and she jerked her sister's arm hard to snap her back into reality, “We're here to do our job, Abigail. Not gawk at the enemy with dreamy eyes.” Abigail laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head, “You're right, Beatty and I'm sorry for getting sidetracked. Like that.” Abigail smiled awkwardly and open the bakery door. While Beatrice got her apple fritter and a warm cup of cider, Abigail couldn't help but stare out the window at Trevor and Nadia talking and Trevor reaching for his radio.

Raising a Brow, she paid for their food and drink and Abigail slipped out the door with her sister, “What are you up to, Abigail?” Beatrice asked her between bites of her apple fritter and took a sip of her drink, “We're listening on their conversation with their radio. We might get some important information.” she replied. Abigail flattens her back against the wall and peers around the corner to listen in on their talk.

“We better head back, Nadia. Major Rossi wants us back at headquarters right away. The Ikari Warriors got ambushed last night by the Ptolemaic Army and some demon.” said Trevor and he put his radio away. Now, this is critical information to take back to General Morden and with luck on digging more into what the Ptolemaic Army is up to and if they’re connected in some way, Morden, mostly Allen O'Neil, can get his revenge on what happened to the base and Allen O'Neil Junior.

An Alleycat made a yowling noise and Abigail tried to shoo it away with her foot and shushing at it to make it go away. But the cat ignored her for it and purr and rubbed up against her legs. Beatrice distracted it by tossing pieces of her apple fritter down the alley and the cat only turned and look at it. “What was that?” said Nadia and they both headed toward the alleyway and Trevor shined a light down into it. Nadia smiled and she kneels down to pet a cat who took interest into them and gave out the loudest purr ever. “Bon jour, kitty cat. We thought you were a spy.” She joked with the cat and it mews back.

Abigail and Beatrice stopped long enough to catch their breath. If it wasn't for the cat to give them away, who knows what more they could have gotten out of Nadia and Trevor. “I think we got more than what we needed, Beatty. It was clever of you to distract the cat long enough to make out get away with your apple fritter.” she smiled at her sister and Beatrice smiled back, “Next time, I'm Bringing a cat toy in case we encounter another cat again.” she chuckled and took a deep breath. The sisters were delighted to leave this Rebel hate city behind them and back to their hidden headquarters.

The day has been good to them so far but their night will be full of fighting for survival and demon hunting.


	10. Chapter 10

Trevor and Nadia made it back to Head Quarters and met up with the rest of the Squad to discuss their next move to figure out what the Ptolemaic Army is up to. So far, they pieced together that the Ptolemaic Army has something to do with the demon but they don't know what or why and they received words from their agents that tonight, the Rebel Army is going out to track the demon down to capture it or kill it if they're given the chance. Marco ordered everyone to get ready and meet back at the copters and they split up for now.

The streets were quiet when Abigail and Allen O'Neil walked down on it with the soldiers following them from behind. It was a less populated place so they won't have any problems dealing with any civilians who are out this late at night. Beatrice stayed close to her sister and her bodyguards looked around for any Regular or Ptolemaic enemies who might come out to attack them at will. “The minute that thing shows its face, I'm blasting it to bits at first sight.” said Allen O'Neil, stroking the barrel of his M60. “General Morden said we'll have to kill it as a last resort. He wants it alive and who knows if this demon will be our chance to win this war.”

Allen O'Neil gritted his teeth but yet he couldn't disobey his General and deeply hope that they do resort to killing it when capturing it failed them. He did get some good news that his son is awake but yet still has a long road to recovery. He caught something from the corner of his eye and turned his gun on it. He thought he saw someone running down another street, wearing a gas mask and carrying what looks like a net gun. He singled the others to follow him and Abigail took the other half of the soldiers with her to keep looking for the demon or any of their enemies, “Beatty, be prepare to freeze it right on the spot or out of sky.” Abigail whispered to her and Beatrice nodded. “I'm ready to take it down for good.” she said with determination.

“Ugh, I thought this road would never end.” said Nadia, stretching her arms out as they finally reached the city, “We can't be spotted too easily if we came in here on our jeeps, that's why we have to go by foot.” said Fio, gazing up at the tall buildings and passing through the closed down toll booths. She can see that birds have made their homes inside a coin deposit bowl and bats all hanging upside in the ceiling. The Squad made it to the city square and look at the map of the whole city. “Okay, we got a whole city to cover and it'll be best that we break into three groups of two.” said Marco, he picked up a stick and laid the map down and held it in place with stones.

“Eri and Fio, you search the west area of the city and Nadia and Trevor can search the abandon construction area for any sign of the Ptolemaic soldiers or Rebels. Tarma and I will search the subways to see if they went underground. Everyone understood?” he said and they shook their head yes and split up right after Marco put the map away. They walked in silence and down the stairs into the subway. Tarma would glance over at Marco once in the while to see how his friend's health is, Marco did look tired but not enough that he wanted to lay down and go to sleep already.

“You're looking a little better tonight, Major.” said Tarma and he grabbed hold of the locked turn-style gate and leaped over it. He couldn't help but enjoy doing that and Marco did the same, “I took a quick nap before we left, that might of done it.” he smiled a bit and they walked by the old board ads and vending machine full of old food and drinks. Tarma just out of curiosity checked to see if they got any change in them but found nothing, but he did reach his hand inside a vending machine and grabbed a candy bar to see if it's still fresh from the wrapper.

“This is so stiff that you can wreck a Rebel tank with one throw.” he said while throwing it over his shoulder. “I thought all the artificial ingredients in them would make them taste fresh.” Marco joked and they climbed down to the tracks and followed it. When they disappeared into the tunnel, a Special Force soldier and a few Gurellia soldiers stepped out from the shadow, “We found him! Standby to blow up any escape routes.” the Special Force Soldier spoke.

Their footprints echoed in the tunnel and Marco started to feel strange and his steps grew heavy and there was a chill blowing through the tunnel. Tarma even stopped when he noticed that Marco stopped moving. “Major?” he said and turned around and yelled when he saw him on his hands and knees in pain. He ran toward him and he was forced to stop when loud rapid beeping was coming from the tunnel's ceiling and blew up.

Tarma raises his arm and the entire tunnel shook and chunks of rubble fell all around them. Tarma was coughing from the dust and smoke and he ran yelling Marco's name out and looking around in blind panic to try to find a way through the cave-in without causing any debris to fall anymore on top of Marco, “Marco! Marco!” Tarma shouted, eyes wide and his heart racing to find his friend and praying that he is alive.

His breathing grew faster and he ceases his action and lean close against the rubble and heard voices. “Marco?” he said and the muffling grew louder and none of them belonged to Marco. Then it turned into shouting and guns going off and spine-chilling screams and everything grew silent. Tarma's mind is racing as he grabbed hold of the first debris in front of him and tumbled backward after getting caught off guard from a fierce roar and someone or something bursting through the blockage with brute impetus. Tarma watched it flying away and chased after it with his gun out and ready to shoot.

But it was too fast for Tarma and it escaped through a hatched in the ceiling and saw its tail pulled through it. He shouted in disgust and ran back to where it came through to find and help Marco. He climbed up the wreckage and slid down onto the other side. The scene was a gruesome sight. Dead Ptolemaic Soldiers ripped to shed and bullet holes scattered all over the walls and laying at Tarma's feet was a net gun and broken electric rods. He picked up the net gun with both hands and looked around for Marco. He was nowhere in sight and Tarma wondered what happened to him.

He heard a voice he never wanted to hear and looked around for an exit and made a dash for the nearest stairs. Allen O'Neil and the Rebel Soldiers stormed through the subway tunnel and they stopped upon the bodies and Allen O'Neil nudges one with his foot, “Looks like the demon has beaten us to a good fight.” he said and the Rebel soldiers brought him a net gun they found on the ground. He examines it and then looks down the tunnel and the wreckage around them, “So, we're not the only one who's on a hunt tonight.” He muttered and he ordered everyone to move it.

To Allen O'Neil, there was no way in Hell that he was going to let the Ptolemaic Army capture this demon alive and bring it back to base and he's going to make sure that he'll be the first to find it and kill it if he has to before Abigail and her sister finds it. While Allen O'Neil was on his quest to find it, Abigail and Beatrice are going to find themselves in another event they didn't expect to happen. Again.


	11. Chapter 11

Nadia yelped and Trevor caught her from falling when they felt the whole ground under their feet shook. “Are you okay, Nadia?” Trevor asked and helped her regain her balance. “I'm okay, Trevor.” she smiled brightly at him and they both flinched when a loud banging and clanking of metal rang through the air and they ran toward it, guns pointed and they found a mangled hatch door torn from its hinges and carelessly tossed to the side. They saw something making a sharp turn around the corner of a building and they chased after it. The street was dark and Trevor and Nadia took their flashlights out.

The demon was nowhere in sight and they approached the vacant street with precaution and it was a good thing that their flashlights can attach themselves onto their guns to free their hands. They both agreed to split up a bit and cover more ground. Trevor was alone now in the big part of the city, he needs to think of a plan on what was he going to do is he did run into the demon on his own and no one to back him up.

Trevor only got his handgun, a heavy machine gun and possibly enough ammo to take down a whole group of enemy or Allen O'Neil himself, if he ever go down that is. He heard trash cans rattling in the alleyway and walked toward it and wondering if now is the good time to get his heavy machine gun out and start shooting. When he stepped into the alleyway, all he could find were knocked over trash cans and scattered Newspapers in the wind. He let out a sigh of relief and turned with guns and a frost cannon pointed squarely at his face, “Stay where you are or I'll make you into a human Popsicle!”

All of her bodyguards and Rebel soldiers cocked their gun to get ready to shoot him down. Trevor raises his hands to surrender when he saw Abigail running toward them, “Beatty, what's with all the shouting going on over here?” She let out a soft gasp and ordered their men to move to the side and let her through to talk to Trevor, “No surprise seeing you here, Sergeant Spacey.” said Abigail, who's doing a good job hiding her excitement to see the man of her dream again. Serious on the outside, squealing like a school girl on the inside.

“The feeling is mutual with you too, Abby.” Trevor spoke back and now he wondered if he worded that right or not and hoped that he didn't give Abigail a false idea that he has feelings for her which he doesn't. Abigail thinks it over, “I have no doubt that you and the Squad are looking for the same demon, am I right? News does spread awfully fast in the battlefield,” said Abigail, “The ambush, Allen O'Neil Junior is in the hospital, and the Ikari Warriors getting an unofficial visit from the Ptolemaic Army and the demon too.”

Trevor raises a brow, “How do you know about the Ikari Warriors being attacked?” Beatrice spoke up, “My sister and I were in the city that you and the pink-headed bimbo were in and we followed you from the bakery and eavesdropped on you both while you were on your radio. Bad idea to speak loudly about what you were just told.” Beatrice smirked at him. In her defense, she was right and Trevor never goofs up till now. Abigail reached into her pocket and took out a pair of handcuffs, “Well, Sergeant Spacey. It looks like you're our prisoner till we decide on what to do with you. Please, put your arms down so I can-”

They heard a scream and a Rebel fell to the ground and all the guns were pointed right at the demon. He roared and breathed fire at them and they moved out of the way with the alleyway now stinking of burning garbage. Trevor grabbed for his Heavy Machine gun and pulled the trigger to rapidly fire at him and Abigail summoned her laser cubes to shoot lasers and her sister joining her to blast ice at it. It did freeze its feet in place and he struggled to yank his feet free and the Rebels moved closer to keep firing but they were all slaughtered by the demon who breathed fire on his fists to deliver fiery punches onto them.

Even Beatrice's bodyguards were all slain by his wrath and drew closer to them and slamming a fist through a cube and then grabbing another to smash it against another one to pieces. “We're not going to let you destroy us like last time!” Beatrice shouted and fired a chunk of ice at his face, hitting him good and making him stumble backward. Trevor pulled her away quick just in time when the demon's newfound rage smashed her ice cannon. “We better run unless we want to get fried.” said Trevor and the girls have no choice but to follow him. Abigail and Beatrice have no close-range combat skills and Trevor is only armed with a Heavy Machine gun, a hand gun, and grenades which aren't enough to fight off a blood thirsty demon.

He slid and stumbled across the ground but regain his balance to keep on running. They were running out of time and alleyways to run through and they better think fast or get killed. Trevor found a door and lucky for him, he can shoot the lock off it with his handgun and push it open. “In here! Hurry!” Abigail and Beatrice ran inside and Trevor felt the swiping of the demon's claws on his backpack and slam the door on his face. The demon roared, slamming his fists against the door that Trevor leaned against to keep it shut.

Everything was quiet until Beatrice screamed when they saw a fist bursting through the door and Trevor let out a painful cry, the demon shoved his head through the hole in the door and chomped down on Trevor's shoulder and tore the hole bigger so he can claw at Trevor's chest. “You let him go!” Abigail grabbed a nearby crowbar and swung it hard enough that the demon lets go of Trevor and recoil away in pain. They heard him roaring in agony and Trevor moved in quickly to push a heavy crate against the door while flinching in pain. Holding a Heavy Machine gun in his hand, they waited to see what it'll do next. Trash cans were getting turned over and they heard flapping of wings fading off into the distance.

“Trevor!” Abigail gasped in horror, seeing the wounded man sliding down against the wall while clutching his bleeding shoulder and his shirt getting stained with his own blood, “A-Abby, open my backpack up and grab my first aid kit!” he groaned in pain. Abigail in a hurry grabbed his bag and unbuckled it open and fished around in his bag and discovered a large hole and half of his stuff gone. “There's no first aid kit! Beatty! Open our pack up and fetch for ours!” Even though Beatrice has a strong jealousy toward Trevor and she would love to turn him into a human snowman, but in the end, Beatrice always put her sister's needs first before hers or anyone else.

She opened the pack up and grabbed their first aid kit and handed it to her, “I'll do anything to help you out, Abigail.” she said and looked over at Trevor, letting him know how lucky he is that she loves her sister so much that she's willing to help her with his injuries. Abigail looked at his wounds, “The scratches we can clean and bandaged up but the teeth marks are going to need a lot of stitches.” said Abigail, opening the first aid kit up and getting out what they needed for it. “Lucky for you, I have done these stitching dozens of times on that meathead, Allen O'Neil, and his son when they get stabbed or...or...”

Abigail's sentences trailed off and her eyes were like a deer in the headlights. Trevor removed his shirt and discarded it to the side, revealing his muscle tone chest and traced out abs and a tiny scar on his upper right arm. She was memorized by his well-cared body and she was so lucky to be helping it get better and getting an up close and personal look. Beatrice nudged her sister, “Abigail, we got a demon out there that's trying to kill us, remember?” Abigail snapped out of it and apologized to her sister and Trevor was blushing a bit and awkwardly looked away.

She cleaned his shoulder up with some medicine and took a needle and thread and began stitching the wound up carefully to prevent inflicting any more pain on Trevor. She made a tight knot and cut the thread and apply a gauze and bandages on it and she helped him clean up the scratch wounds next which was a simpler fix that he can do on his own. She still couldn't keep her eyes off of him, she wants to make a permanent mental image of this till he put his shirt back on and slowly got off the floor and grabbed for his Heavy Machine gun. “Thank you, Abby and Beatrice, for helping me. I'll get a doctor to check for any sign of infections when I get back.”

They were quiet as they navigated the building and Trevor shattered the door's window with the butt of his knife and unlocked it from the other side and they stepped outside. They were back on the street again and they let out a sigh of relief. “We better get going and find Allen O'Neil, Abigail. I bet he didn't find anything.” she said and walked ahead of them. Abigail looked over at Trevor, the young woman was blushing and it felt like it was saving the Mars People from the Dragunov and Yoshino all over again. If the Aliens were replaced with a bloodthirsty demon.

“I better follow my sister but first.” Trevor looked at her, “I guess you're going to take me prisoner then.” Trevor was wrong about that plan. The next thing he knew, he felt Abigail leaning in close and giving him a sweet soft kiss on the lips and she stepped back, “Thank you for saving me and my sister.” Abigail turned and walked away. Dumbfounded over what just happened and watching the sisters disappear down the street, Trevor stood there for a good while till he heard Nadia running up to him.

Trevor, are you okay? I heard gunshots and came running.” said Nadia between pants and Trevor brushed his fingers over his lips lightly, “Ye-Yeah, I'm all right, Nadia. Let's go find the others.”


	12. Chapter 12

The Girls didn't have so much luck either on their search and it didn't help that they got ambushed by Caroline's remote control plane that tried to gun them down on the spot. They stayed out of sight and moved through the darkness and stop moving when the engine of the plane grows loud and start moving again when it's away. “You're okay, Eri?” Fio contacted her through Radio, “I'm fine, Fio. We need to find a way to regroup and get out of sight for awhile.” Eri replied. Fio turns her radio back on, “Okay, meet me at the subway entrance, it'll give us plenty of covers till the plane is gone. Be careful.”

“Same to you.” Eri's radio goes quiet and Fio looked around for a better route to avoid that plane again, she heard it coming and ducked into a doorway as it flew by and carefully stepped out. She looked both ways and studied the plane's pattern and ran out to another hiding spot, she can see the subway entrance but there were a few hiding spots for her to duck into and she has to act fast. Fio took off running again and gasped when she saw the plane chasing after her to shoot her where she stood.

She judged how fast the plane was going and then jump out of the way just in time when a hail of bullets came raining down on the road. Fio threw the door open of an old opera house and quickly scurry away from the windows to hide behind a ticket counter. She was waiting for the gunshots and the plane swooping in to blow up the whole building but nothing happens and the plane oddly flew away from the building. “That's odd, I thought she'll blow me up along with this building.” Fio whispered and she saw the Ptolemaic Army emblem carved on the door after she got up to peak out the door.

She closed it shut again and gone back to hide behind the ticket counter to think. She wondered if the place has a map of the city and she looked around the drawers and tables for one and she smiled when she found one tucked away in a mail slot and open it. There's a path she can take through the backstage of the opera house and go through the back door and then make her way to the subway entrance through a parking lot building. It was perfect and Fio took out a pink marker she carries with her and trace out her path and tuck the map away into her vest.

Fio opened the doors to the auditorium and closed them quickly. Her heart was racing and she hoped that she wasn't spotted by the people inside. She opened the door ajar to look inside and she can see Dragunov and Yoshino talking in the middle of the stage with their soldiers dragging equipment around and checking weapons over. “So he escaped from the subway tunnel and roaming free in the city. We better move in and catch it quick before the Rebels or the PF Squad finds him first.” said Yoshino and Dragunov loaded her sniper rifle with darts, “Don't worry, we came more prepare this time and he's not going to get away from us this time.”

“What do I do?” Fio asked herself and glances around for an answer to her problem. She found a set of stairs that leads to the second floor of the auditorium and she can see the stage better in the audience booth and looked up and spotted a catwalk that might help her sneak passed them and headed back to the ticket counter to find a map of the place and found her escape route of the place. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and follow the path to the catwalk and thanks to Eri for teaching her how to pick locks, Fio unlocked the cat walk's door with no problem and quietly pushed it open and stepped onto the catwalk.

“Okay, Fio. It's like Mae with the power lines in that one game you played. Walk straight and don't look down.” She took it easy and slow and by doing that, she can hear more of the conversation from Dragunov and Yoshino, “Any word on the demon's where about and how much time do we have left before daylight?” Dragunov asked and Special Force checked their calculation, “Less than two hours, ma'am.” he replied and Dragunov had a sour expression on her, “Then we better moved out before he escapes and heads back to the Regular Military base to change back.”

“I'm with you, Dragunov. It was easy to take him down back in the sand kingdom and capture him but he put up quite of a fight at the Ikari Warriors' headquarters.” Yoshino smirked. Fio didn't understand what they were saying at first but she is one clever girl and put it all together and her eyes widen and everything was making sense and can't be in denial over it either. Marco being found in the alleyway unconscious in the Sand Kingdom and the sudden illness of feeling tired all the time and being found in the garage waking up.

Even the odd craving for raw meat and how aggressive he got over a piece of meat he was caught gnawing on. “They're hunting for Marco.” Fio lips quivered and she moved as fast as she can and she flinched greatly as the air was filled with a loud distress scream from a woman that grabbed both of the women's attention, “Caroline!” They shouted in unison and they jumped off the stage and dash for the exit with their troops following behind, now this is Fio's chance to make her escape and meet up with Eri. She ran across the catwalk and she can see the exit in view.

The whole building is violently shaking and Fio grabbed hold of the railing and screamed when Caroline's plane came crashing down in flames and taking out a lot of buildings with it. Metal was groaning and bending against its will and Fio heard ropes snapping and metal clanking against stuff underneath her and her feet slipped right when the Catwalk collapsed. She held onto a bar on the catwalk rail and whimpered. The Catwalk jolted and Fio yelled and couldn't hold on forever. She tries to use the railing like a set of ladders but the whole thing gave up holding on and plunged Fio to the stage below.

Fio doesn't know how long she's been out but she did felt someone's warm breathing on her face and she was scared to open her eyes to see who it is and she slowly opens one eye and her vision was blurry to see who it was but all she can make out is a big mass with glaring yellow eyes and a sound of thin metal clinking against each other. She reached out and felt something metallic in front of her and grabbed it before passing.

“Fio?”

“Fio!”

“Are you okay? Please wake up!”

A pair of hands shook strongly enough to wake the young woman up and Fio slowly opened her eyes and her visions cleared up to reveal Eri. Scared but relieved for her best friend waking up and hugged her, “Oh, thank goodness that you're okay. You didn't show up at the subway entrance so I came looking for you. I even saw Dragunov and Yoshino come running out of this Opera house and figured that you were there as well. Talk about making a good call.” She smiled a bit and helped Fio up. “Can you walk?” Fio nodded and she notices that she was clutching something in her hand.

She wasn't sure if she wants to look at it even if she knew the answer is under her fingers. “What you got there. Fio?” Eri pointed at it and Fio looked at her gravely and open her hand up with one finger at a time, “The answer to who our mystery demon is.” she whispered with anguish and Eri gasped when she saw the name on the dog tag. “We better find Tarma before it's too late!” she said and she helped Fio off the stage and they headed toward the exit. Fio was dead quiet while following Eri and she looked at the dog tags again and grasped it. She's trying to fight the tears back, “Why would they do this to Marco?” she softly spoke and closed the door behind her.


	13. Chapter 13

“Where did you pesky Sparrows fly off to?” said Caroline, she flew her plane over the city and stared down at the screen on her remote control. She did swoop down at Fio but missed and turn the plane around to avoid hitting the opera house where Yoshino and Dragunov made base at for the night. She knew they split up and she has the plane make a big U-turn to keep finding them and sighed, “I guess I better look for them somewhere else.” she said and she flew the plane away from where they once were and took a sip of her soda she set on top of an air conditioner.

A silhouette glided across the roof that she's standing on and it went on unnoticed by her. Caroline looked up to see where her plane is and looked down at the monitor to search for Fio and Eri or any of the Squad. Her control was beeping intensely and she tapped away at a few buttons on it and the monitor switched cameras to reveal the demon's face right before it was smashed and went offline. This throws Caroline in a panic and she was flipping switches and pressing buttons to shake the demon off her plane.

But her attempt was futile and all she could do is watch her plane get torn to shred and fire shooting out of it. She took a few step back and took off running to escape a falling flaming turbine and screamed as it came crashing down on the building next to her and she dove to take cover from the raining fiery debris. She groans and clutched her head as she slowly gets up and fell back down. Caroline felt some pain and turned herself around to look at her twisted ankle. She needs to get away from here and she can see the bright roaring flame where her plane crashed. She grabbed a steel pipe to help lift herself off the ground and easy herself toward the stairway.

She wasn't halfway there when she heard something landing behind her and breathing heavily. Caroline looked behind her and let out a startling gasp and clutched the pipe in hand to get ready to use it as a melee weapon against it. The demon's piercing gaze made her feel frightened and her soul felt unsettled and stepping away out of fear and whimpering like a scared child. “Y-You must be tired by now from all of the mass destruction and killing you done, r-right?” she voice shook and he drew closer with his claws out and ready to tear her apart.

Tears streamed from her eyes and she closed them shut and looked away and she heard gunshots going off and snap her eyes wide open, “Get away from her!” Dragunov shouted at him and Yoshino charges in and swung her hammer to bat the demon away from Caroline. “Caroline, are you okay?” Yoshino asked her, grasping the handle tightly to ready for another swing of her hammer. “My ankle is badly hurt from the tumbled I took.” she replied and Dragunov aimed to fire another dart again and the demon grunted without flinching when it hit his neck. He yanks it out and crushed it in his hand and turned his attention toward Dragunov and Yoshino.

“Don't over drugged him or this mission would be all for nothing.” Yoshino shouted and jumped and slam her hammer to the ground, sending shock waves toward the demon to knock him to the ground and Dragunov ran toward him and shot him with a third dart. It struck him in the shoulder and he pulled that one out too and slowly got back up on his feet and breathed fire all over his body to prevent any more darts or bullets from hitting him again and took flight. Yoshino grabbed her Kunais and tossed them into the air to strike at the membrane of his wings and they went through the flames, cutting holes into the wings.

The demon swooped down, striking at Yoshino and Dragunov ran and jump off the building to tackle him out of the air, holding tight against his body, she drew out her combat knife and made big gauge on his left wing. The demon roared out in agonizing pain and he weaved and swerved in flight and crashed onto the ground, throwing Dragunov off his body and sending her stumbling across the pavement. He folded his wings to minimize the pain in his wing and a small streak of blood dripped from his wounded wing. He huffed aggressively and stomped his feet toward her and Dragunov groaned and shook off the pain and reached for her combat knife.

She stood back up in a fighting stance and ran toward the demon and locked themselves in a hand-to-hand combat. Matching his every move, trying not to break her focus and slashing her combat knife with every chance she gets at him and leaving some cuts on him. “Just wear him down till you or the drug knocks him out.” Dragunov thought to herself. The demon got the upper hand and dodged her attack and grabbed her sniper rifle and swung it hard against her like a club, the impact was powerful enough to break some ribs and her arm. He discarded the rifle once it was bent in half and kept fighting against her.

It hurt like Hell but she was trained for this and switched hands with her combat knife but it was slapped out of her hand by his tail and he swung his tail again but only this time at Dragunov and crushed her against a brick wall. Dragunov slowly got back to her feet and got slashed down by the demon, she was battered horribly and she was pushing her endurance too far that her body wanted her to give up and run already. He grabbed Dragunov and he was ready to chomp his fangs down on her when he felt the impact of Yoshino's hammer slamming against his side and letting go of Dragunov.

“Took you long enough.” Dragunov spit some blood out of her mouth and their troops moved in for the capture, “Sorry, I thought you can handle him long enough while I help Caroline and rally our troops up.” Yoshino replied and defended herself with her hammer when he tried to land a surprise attack on her. She smacked him again with it and he hit the ground hard enough to leave a small crater in the middle of the road. He huffed and they see that he's wearing down and Dragunov grinned. “Finally, we took the mighty beast down. Get the electro nets ready and shock him if he dares to break free.”

He roared and they moved in and shot their net gun at him and the minute that it landed on him, he screeches when the volt zapped through his body and he fell over and struggled to get up. They shocked him again with electric rods to make sure that he stays down and he let out a blood-curdling scream of defeat and hit the ground. Yoshino, clutching her hammer in hand stepped forward and nudge her foot at it to see if it's still awake. The demon didn't move and all the troops were cheering over their victory on the capturing of the demon and Yoshino helped with the tying of the net.

“Is it over? We finally caught him?” Caroline looked over at Dragunov and Dragunov put a hand on her shoulder and smiled, “Yes, Caroline. We finally caught our demon and we can move on to-” Their victory was cut short by the blazing of bullets and all of their troops getting killed. Dragunov quickly grabbed Caroline and moved her out of harm's way and stepping into the scene was Allen O'Neil and his soldiers, “I hate it when someone robs me of a fight that I was looking forward to.” Allen O'Neil snapped his fingers and the Rebels moved in to inspect the demon.

The others pointed their guns at Yoshino and the others and a soldier walked up to Allen O'Neil, “Sir, the demon is knocked out and ready to be captured.” Allen O'Neil laughed, “On the bright side, at least we don't have to wrap him all up after we take him down.” Yoshino growled at him, “You're not taking what's ours, O'Neil. We hunted him down long and hard unlike you vultures who waited for us to do all of the dirty work so you can swoop in and grab him.” Allen O'Neil smirked, “Oh? What are you going to do about it? You got two people on your hands who are not fit to fight me and the boys and the men you brought are now dead.”

Allen O'Neil ordered one of them to radio Abigail and Beatrice on their location and then he demanded them to go and fetch a truck to load the demon inside it. The street grew lighter and the first burst of sunray downcast itself on the streets and buildings and shine upon the city. They knew what to come next, the Demon Song will come to an end till the next night and their demon will be back to a man. The Rebels soldiers all backed off at once when the demon began to grunt and let out a bellowing moan and his body began twitching and flailing about like a fish out of water. Allen O'Neil's nostrils were flaring and pointed his M60 at them, “What's the meaning of this? What did you do to-”

“Sir, you better come and look at this.” Raising a brow, Allen O'Neil came stomping toward the net on the ground and his eyes shot wide out of shock, “You got to be kidding me! Our demon is no other than Marco Rossi?! Cancel the truck, I'm dragging his ass back to Head Quarters and handing him over to the General personally. Get the Copter instead! Now!” They scrambled and canceled the truck and requested a copter and Allen O'Neil threw in a quick order for them to pick up Abigail and Beatrice along the way. He hoists the net with Marco inside it over his shoulder and hauled him off while still pointing his M60 at them, “Thanks for the gifts, ladies.” He laughed and soon the copter with Abigail and Beatrice inside lower itself enough for Allen O'Neil to get on with Marco.

“Allen, what are you doing with Major Rossi? We were here to catch the demon, not the members of the PF Squad!” Abigail scolded him and Allen O'Neil smiled at her as he sat down and put his feet up on Marco's unconscious body. “Ah, Abigail. If only you were here a few minutes ago to see the wonderful news I'm about to tell you.”


	14. Chapter 14

Ptolemaios was pleased to hear of the capturing of Marco but his face turned to a scowl when he received words that the Rebels ambushed Yoshino and Dragunov and stole their catch. The Evil Spirit Incarnate wasn't pleased either and with Dragunov in need of medical attention, it's up to Yoshino to return back to the base and regroup more soldiers and bring in the heavy weaponry upon the Rebels and General Morden. “Leave me....Marco....Destroy the others.” The Evil Spirit Incarnate spoke before disappearing into the void and Ptolemaios left to rally the troops together for Yoshino.

Tarma listened to every word that Fio said about what she heard back at the opera house and the grave truth about the demon's identity. He brushed his thumb across the raised letters of Marco's name on the dog tags and have not said a word after Fio handed over Marco's dog tag to Tarma. He pockets it and took a few steps away from the Squad and stopped to let out a sigh, “I should have seen it coming. If I knew this was going to happen, I would have joined him for a smoke outside.” Everyone exchanged concern look and Eri stepped forward and put an assuring hand on his shoulder, “Then what would have happened is that they would have knocked you out or worst.”

Tarma hung his head low and looked at Eri and he admits that she was right. Even if he was with Marco, they would of either knocked him out or kill him. He straightens himself out and turns around to face the Squad, “Okay, everyone. First priority is to rescue Marco from whoever got to him first and then find a cure to end this madness once and for all.” Everyone was pump to find Marco and destroy The Ptolemaic's Army plan at the same time. They investigated the street and all they could find were shot up bodies of Ptolemaic soldiers and some blood stains on the ground.

Trevor kneel down and picked up a bullet shell, “Captain Roving, I found something.” he shouted and they walked toward him and Fio took the bullet shell from him sand inspect it, “It's a bullet shell from a M60 and it's obvious who would of use it to take them all down in one round.” Tarma folded his arms and huffed, “So from what we gather here, The Ptolemaic's Army got to Marco first but then the Rebels ambushed them at the last minute and stole him. We better head back to Head Quarters and get ready for our next move.” Eri called for a copter to picked them up and after they board onto it, they got an aerial view of the wreckage of Caroline's plane and the buildings it destroyed. Smoke was still pouring out of it but the fire burning inside has started to die down.

Marco's body aches all over when he sat himself up and placing a hand on his head to try to rub away the throbbing headache bothering him. He discovered his backpack and other belongings are gone and he's in a closed up windowless prison cell. He walked slowly to prevent any more pain from happening and took a peek through the window slot of the cell door. Two Rebel soldiers are guarding the door and he can see a long hallway for as far as the eye can see and he flopped himself down on his bed and sighed. “Great, what did I got myself into now?” He said and he rubbed his head again. He closed his eyes for a minute and he thought he heard a voice in the room and open his eyes.

There was no one there and he wondered if its the headache that's bothering him. He saw something dark and shadow-like pouring through the door's crack like smoke and it pooled itself in the middle of the room. A hand came out of it and then another one and Marco's eyes widen with shock. The shadow figure scattered the dark aura from his body to reveal itself as Marco with amber eyes, sharp claws, and fangs and he calmly looked down at Marco. “I've been watching your progress, Marchrius and I got to say, you're on your way to being the perfect servant for me.” he spoke with a raspy icy voice.

“I don't doubt that you're behind this whole mess and how I got here. But do you mean being the perfect servant for you?” said Marco, glaring at his evil form and The Evil Spirit Incarnate chuckled, “I know you have struggled to remember the night in the alleyway in the Sand Kingdom and how it gives you such a painful headache but I guess it won't hurt to tell you what's been going on and why you're not feeling like yourself. You see, Marchrius, flowing through your veins right now as we speak, is a formula that I have my loyal followers brew up in their lab and they kidnapped you and pour it down your throat. That was after you put up a good fight and you needed your mouth pried open and your head tilted back.”

The images in Marco's head that once were blurs are now becoming sharp and clear for him to see. He can see the cult leader's face grinning down at him and clutching a bottle full of black foul ooze and tip it over to pour into his mouth. He rubbed his throat when he feels the burning sensation building up and The Evil Incarnate smirked, “It worked so well. In one night, you took out General Morden's Headquarters and almost slaughtered Allen O'Neil Junior before you flew back to your home base before sunrise. We have so many plans to do with you, Marchrius once we get you out of here and-”

“Enough!” Marco snapped at him and stood on his feet, fists clenching and he stared aggressively at the Evil Spirit Incarnate, “I refuse to be your mindless puppet that would obey to every call and do your dirty biddings. I will find a cure to this and then end your army's cruel plans once and for all.” The Evil Spirit Incarnate was unfazed for what Marco said and he didn't have to say anything to show how brutal he can be toward him. Marco heard the haunting melody again and he fell to his hands and knees, fighting it now to resist the song and from transforming. His back aches and he can feel the wings pushing against his skin and his fingers stiffening to turn into long claws.

He gasps when he saw his hands changing and groaning in pain when his jaws were shifting and the Evil Spirit Incarnate stopped his song and Marco turned back to his old self, “I'm not going to lie, Marchrius but I can do this to you during the day but I choose not to so I can give your body some time to rest since the formula we gave you was only the first phase,” He lifted Marco's face up and he can see how tired he is, “Who knows who would be next to get destroyed. Allen O'Neil? Abby and her brat sister? Or maybe it'll be one of your pals like Tarma, Eri, Nadia, or Trevor. It could be that cute little lady you call Fio who'll be ripped to shred or set-”

“Leave them alone!” Marco shouted and he charges right at him but all Marco ended up doing is crashing his body against the steel wall and cutting his lip in the processes. He slowly got up and feebly walked toward the bed and flop himself down on it. He hunches over and held his head in his hands and breathed heavily, “I-I need to get out of here and get this demon out of me.” he said huffing between words. He heard the door opening and the Rebels guards ordering him to get up to put the handcuffs on him. After they left the room, The Evil Spirit Incarnate came out of hiding and smirked, “You can't fight it forever, Marchrius. You either become my servant or die.”


	15. Chapter 15

Allen O'Neil Told his son the full story of their mission and the true identity of the demon that almost killed him. When it was revealed to be Marco, Allen O'Neil Junior jumped to his feet while his doctors wrestled him back into his bed and demanded him to stay there until his bones are fully healed. “I will murder the vermin who did this to me!” Allen O'Neil Junior shouted from the top of his lungs and his father put a hand on his shoulder, “Calm down, son. You will get your revenge on Marco once we bring him in to the General. General Morden is going to decide his fate and what we're going to do with him.”

Allen O'Neil Junior smirked, “It's better be the death penalty so I can wallop him good.” Allen O'Neil laughed, “I'll ask General Morden if you can leave this place early to do that.” While the O'Neils are having a good laugh over killing their enemies, they don't expect to be doing that sooner than they think. If these meatheads could think that is. Marco couldn't shake off the invisible gaze of the Evil Spirit Incarnate as they walk down the hall of the cell house. He's the only one who can see the red glowing eyes in the darkness while all the Rebels could see is nothing but the dark.

They stopped in front of an elevator that dinged and the doors slide open. They stepped in and a Rebel pressed a button to close the doors and they felt the shifting of the elevator moving upward. Marco's mind was racing and he felt his heart in his throat. What if the Evil Spirit Incarnate starts singing and makes Marco transform into that demon and started killing everyone. The last thing he wants to do is end the war as a monster under a spirit's control and wants to handle General Morden as his old self.

The Elevator stopped and the doors opened up and Marco shielded his eyes and let them adjust to the bright light and felt a gun jabbed at his ribs in order to make him move again. He walked down the rugged floor and he looked at the painting of General Morden hung on the wall and they have one just like it back at base they use for target practice until it fell apart from all the holes in it. Marco made a mental note to get a new one for the shooting range.

The doors to Morden's office swung open and they pushed Marco harsh enough to make him stumble into the room. “So you're responsible for burning down my warehouses and almost murdering Allen O'Neil Junior.” said Morden making himself a glass of Old Parr and took a sip before turning to face his arch-enemy who he has in his grasp and smirked and walked toward him. “So, how's the old scar wound that Allen O' Neil gave you a long time ago? Giving you violent stomach aches in the middle of the night I hope.” Morden mockingly laughed at him and his Rebel soldiers laughed along with him.

Marco didn't say a word and Morden was fine with it since to him, Marco would say the same old stuff about stopping him in his track or how he'll never get away with this or putting an end to his plans. He sipped his drink and Marco thought he saw the shadow form of the Evil Spirit Incarnate gliding across the walls of Morden's office and then disappearing into any shadow it could find. Morden grabbed hold of Marco's jaw and yanked him enough to make him look him in the eye, “You're not paying attention, Marco. Cause I hate to repeat myself,” Morden growled and sipped the remaining of him drink.

“I'm telling you about what I'm going to have Navy do to you after our little chat here. You won't be going back to your cell, you're going straight to her lab where she's going to figure out how to unleash this demon side of yours and how we're going control you with it.” Morden gave him a nasty grin and Marco return the favor with a scowl. “You wish, Morden. I'm going to give your men one Hell of a fight before Navy have me strapped down on some examining table and start experimenting on me. You don't know who started this and what you're dealing with.”

Morden burst out laughing, “And what are you going to do next, Marco? We took all your weapons away from you and all of our security systems will make you into nothing but a blood splatter on the walls if you dare to try to escape from this place and I have no doubt that your friends will be coming here to break you out of here and they'll be too late once we got what we want with you.” He headed toward his table to pour himself another glass and sip it.

Marco wasn't feeling well and reality was slowing slipping away and Morden's voice was fading away and the haunting melody from earlier grew louder. His eyes widen and Marco tried to resist it, his heart was racing and his breathing grew heavy, “Don't resist, Marchrius. You heard what the man said. You're defenseless and your friends aren't going to save you. Just give in to the song and free yourself with my help.” The Evil Spirit Incarnate whispered to him and Marco swallowed and fought harder.

The room grew cold and Morden notices the frost forming on the rim of his glass and the Rebel guards were shivering. “Who turn the heat down?” Morden turned and saw Marco on his Hands and Knees. Marco gritted his teeth and dug his fingers into the carpet and the song grew louder and its power grew to break Marco's resistance against it. “Stop being stubborn, Marchrius! You're in a can't win situation! It's either you let them win or escape.....Escape.....Demon.”

The Evil Spirit Incarnate couldn't keep up this song forever and he gathered up the last once of his strength he had left and used it to finally break Marco's resistance. He laughed weakly at Marco before melting away into the shadow to return back to his base. Marco's body violently shook in pain. His hands tug and pull to forms pairs of claws, his jaws shifting and fangs grew out and his once brown eyes turn to a shade of amber and his tail grew and whip away the nearest Rebel guard and shooting out of his back and unfolding themselves are his wings and his skin turning into a shade of olive green.

He yanked his arms apart, shattering the cuffs and chains on them and he let out a fierce beastly roar that sends shivers down everyone's spine. The Rebels were no match against the demon and already they were being ripped apart or set on fire. The demon took a massive deep breath and began breathing fire all over Morden's office, setting everything on fire on sight. Morden ducked behind his desk and grabbed for his gun and when he popped from behind it, the man yelped when the demon his already up close and right in Morden's face.

Morden was about to pull the trigger when he screamed out in pain the minute the demon grabbed his hand and crushed it enough for him to let go of the gun and then smashed the gun into scrap metal with one stomp of his foot. Morden was sweating out of fear and pulled himself away from the demon and backed himself into a corner. The last thing Morden could remember is screaming for mercy and being dragged away by the demon.


	16. Chapter 16

“I swear, Captain Roving. This whole Demon thing gets weirder by the minute for every time I read the reports.” said Ralf while adjusting his gloves on his hands and Clark checking their guns to see if they got enough ammo to last them out in the battlefield. “I know, Colonel and I wish this mission is less painful to handle but it's not.” said Tarma, staring out of the window of the copter as it flew over prairie land and drawing closer to the Rebel base. The Squad knows how he's feeling and Tarma wasn't alone. Even Fio was feeling upset and the poor girl was in tears when the truth came out after they got back to the base.

Loud distance booming caught the Squads' attention when a gigantic fireball burst into the air and blaring of siren soon followed. Everyone was on their feet and hurrying to jump out of the Copter and Tarma ran and climbed inside the Slug Tank and drove it right out and landing onto the ground with a loud thud and kept going with the others following. “Jeepers, you don't think the Ptolemaic Army are invading the Rebels as well, are they?” Fio said in a worried voice and Eri narrowed her eyes. “We'll have to fight them too.” she replied and ran faster.

Unfortunately, General Morden managed to escape from the Demon's wrath and ran for his life with half of his mustache burned and his uniformed shredded into ribbons. Scare out of his mind and praying for survival, Morden's Soldiers covered his exit and shot back at the Demon but they all got whacked by the swinging of his tail and threw the others with his brute strength. He roared and burned a hole through the iron door and crawled through it and got greeted by Allen O'Neil and his son's fist.

“Try to kill me, will you?” Allen O'Neil Junior cracked his knuckles and smirked, “I'm going to enjoy beating every inch of you, Major Rossi.” A huff growled came from the Demon and they both charged at each other, locking hands and caught themselves in a power struggle to see who would be first to give out and to land the first punch. He opened his mouth to get ready to shoot fire at Allen O'Neil Junior's face but his father moved in quick to shut the Demon's mouth with his hands, “Not this time, boy.” Allen O'Neil growled and the demon pulled away from Allen O'Neil Junior and thrashed around to free itself from Allen O'Neil's powerful grips.

Spreading its wings, it flapped harder to raise itself off the ground, along with Allen O'Neil holding onto him in a headlock. Allen O'Neil laughed this off and tighten his fist to punch the Demon in the face and lost his balance as the Demon shook from side to side and got grabbed by his tail and pulled down along with Allen O'Neil toward the ground. Rebel soldiers screamed and are thrown into the air by the hands of Clark and clearing a path for the Squad and the Ikari Warriors to run through, gun a blazing and fists being thrown around and grenades being tossed into the oncoming horde of Rebels. “The sooner we find him, the sooner we can end this fight.” Tarma's voice crackled through the radio.

“Copy that, over.” Eri replied and Tarma's tank shook with the loud thud and the inside of the tank grew hot and uncomfortable for him to bare, sweat dripping down his face and his shirt soaking wet and he looked up to see glowing orange melting metal above him and the hatch was torn open. The next thing Tarma knew, he was violently yanked out of the tank and he was face-to-face against the Demon staring down at him and he reached his hand in and ripped the control panel out clean and set the self-destruct program off. The tank rapidly beeped and took off at breakneck speed before it crashed into a row of fuel tanks and blowing them all up one by one in balls of fire.

Yoshino lowered her binoculars and turn to her troops, they're more ready now and with a change of plans, they won't be paying a visit to the Regular Military Head Quarters after all. She signals them to move out and lead the troops toward the burning Rebel base, “We got you now, Marco.” Yoshino grin.

Tarma groaned and opened his eyes. His sunglasses were mangled and the lens was cracked and some of the shards have already broken off from their frame. Heavy footsteps walked toward him and distance shouting was coming from his friends, mostly from Fio and Eri while Ralf and Clark were shoving fallen materials to the side to make a path for them to run through. He rolled himself to the side and tried to get up on his own when he was grabbed by his backpack and hoist off the ground. He was coughing when the Demon blew smoke into his face and he threw Tarma to the ground hard.

Refusing to fight his friend, all he could do is at least tire him down to give Ralf and Clark the advantage to grab him from behind if they can clear the burning rubble in time to help him out that is. He threw some punches back at the Demon but it barely left any bruises on the Demon and Tarma felt the hard impact of his punch squarely on his jaw and he hit the ground again, Tarma groans out of pain and wiped the blood away from his mouth and see the Demon coming at him again.

It was another hit, this one below the ribs that sent Tarma faltering and clutching his side. It almost knocked the wind out of him and giving the Demon another chance to hit again. He hears the shouting of his friends growing louder and the rumbling of debris being pushed away and without warning, the Demon grabbed Tarma by his vest and slammed him against the wall, he glared down at him through his mangled sunglasses, breathing heavily and feeling the sharp clawing digging through his shirt and into his skin.

“I-I know that you're in there somewhere, Marco. I know that you never let anyone beat you up or push you around to get what they want out of you. I know you can outfight this Demon and come out on top with your humanity still attach. Don't let him win, don't fall under the Ptolemaic Army's control. I know you can defeat them in the end.”

The Demon was hesitant, the fire in its mouth began to grow dim and Tarma wondered if his words got through to him and Marco might be coming back fighting to reclaim his body, mind, and soul. His grip lighten and Tarma fell to the ground. “Tarma!” Eri shouted and the rest of the Squad ran toward him with the rest of the squad following her. “It's all right, I-I think Marco is coming back to us.” Tarma held out a hand to signal them not to attack. “Are you sure?” Fio asked him as she took a few steps forward while looking up at him.

There was a soft huff as the Demon turned his attention toward Fio and Ralf and Clark were in their fighting stance in case they have to tackle him to the ground if he dared to hurt Fio. His eyes soften when he saw the maiden before him and reached out a hand to gently touch Fio's cheek and caresses it. She smiled a bit and placed her hands on his, “You're going to be okay, Marco. We're going to take you back to the base and find a cure to help you.” Tarma let out a sigh of relief and Eri ran to his side to help him up. “Finally, we can end this nightmare and go-”

Eri was cut off by a loud whistling noise coming out of the air and the Demon pushed Fio out of the way just when a thick steel sphere clamped shut right over him and he let out a fierce roar and banged around inside to break free and the Squad was hit with canisters of knockout gas. They coughed and covered their mouths with their hands and their eyes were burning from the gas. One by one, they fell to the ground and the Ptolemaic Army's Special Forces moved in to check every one of them to make sure that they were fully knocked out by the gas.

Yoshino stepped through the gas with her gas mask on and observe the area around her, “Good work, men. Lets collect Major Rossi and get out of here before General Morden decided to be stupid enough to confront us again.” she said and they saluted to her before they hooked up the sphere with a heavy net and hoist it out up into the sky and Yoshino leaped onto it and removed her gas mask to get a better look below and smiled. They finally got what they wanted and they must prepare themselves for the next phase of the plan as Ptolmaios ready the ritual upon their arrival.


	17. Chapter 17

“Open the hatch up and bring him to the chamber. Get ready when he tries to escape.” Yoshino commanded and they opened the hatch up and prepare themselves for another bloody fight but all they got instead is Marco's limped body falling out of the container and they lifted and dragged him away off to the chamber with no hassle, no one getting killed or set on fire. Dragunov stood next to Yoshino and folded her arms, “I heard that we finally caught Marco Rossi.” she smirked and Yoshino walked away and followed their grunts toward the chamber.

“We wasted a lot of time trying to catch him and beating up anyone who stands in our way for reaching our goal.” said Yoshino, following their men from behind to help with the preparations for the ritual. Ptolemaios has everything he needed to complete his master's plan and all they need now is Marco. Shortly after, his soldiers came in along with Yoshino and Dragunov tailing behind them and they laid Marco down onto the ground. “We got him, sir. Time for the next phase of the plan.” said Yoshino and Ptolemaios kneel down to inspect Marco to make sure that he's all in one piece.

“Good, there aren't any damages on him and he has all of his limbs attached. Now let us proceed.” The Evil Spirit Incarnate appears before them, making the room cold around them and their breathing froze with every breath they took and Ptolemaios turn toward his army began to chant and The Evil Spirit Incarnate places his claws over Marco's body. The hand began to let out a blue glowing aura and Marco Winches in pain and clenched his teeth.

In the Ptolemaic Army's Lab, a scientist is working away on his computer and halted by the sound of a gun being cocked behind them, “Do you know the cure to my friend's suffering that your whack job of a leader put on him?” said Tarma, with a indignant expression and pointing gun to the scientist's head. The scientist holds their hands up in the sign surrendering and Trevor checked and guard the door while Fio, Eri, and Nadia tore up the lab looking for any possible clues for a cure to Marco's curse. “I can't find any sign of a cure.” Fio reported to Tarma, “Same here.” said Eri while slamming a desk drawer shut. “How about this?” said Nadia, holding up a rolled up scroll.

“Hey, don't touch that!” the scientist barked at her and Tarma took it from her and unroll it to see what's written on, “So this is the formula that you scums made to poison Marco's body with that said curse.” he said, holding the scroll out in front of their face and then rolled it back up again. “It's true, that is the scroll that we use to create the formula and then force him to drink it but you can't make me create a cure for him.” The Scientist growled at them and he gasped out of fright when all the guns were pointing at his face, “Okay, I know how to make up a cure and save your friends. Don't just kill me, please.” he begged and Tarma nodded.

“Good, Trevor and Nadia will be keeping a close eye on you while we go and rescue Marco from this cult's grasp.” They heard the scientist huffed at them, “Good luck stopping them on time cause right now as we speak, they're performing the ritual to make him into a permanent demon for the rest of his life.” they laughed when they saw the look on their faces and how pale they have gotten and the three of them took off running while as Trevor and Nadia poked them with their guns again to make them work on the cure right now. “We'll deliver the cure once we get it in our hands!” Trevor shouted at them before they disappeared around the corner.

They didn't waste any time and they shot any Ptolemiac Soldiers who would stand in their way and blow up any equipment with their grenades that were used against them. They found the stairs leading up to the chambers and ran up the stairs when they were ambushed by Special Force soldiers, blocking any chances of going either up or down the stairs and they fought to clear the stairways of them and kept running once everyone is shot down and they can tell that they're getting close when their body shivered and their breath turned to frost.

Their feet landed on top of the stairway and they can see icicles and frost forming on the doors and it was too cold to be opened by their hands but Tarma wasn't going to waste anytime and they can still hear the chanting from Ptolemaios and Tarma took a few step back and a running start and ram his whole body against the door over and over again and they heard the chant stopping and Fio looked at them with a scare expression and Tarma felt his heart sank and then there was screaming and roaring coming from inside and Ptolemaios ordering his followers to stop and sustained him before they heard him screaming too.

It all went quiet and the temperature in the air changed around them and the frost and ice began to melt off the door and drip onto the floor and then they heard gunshots and Yoshino yelling orders and the ground thumping from her large hammer. “Marco, we're coming!” Eri shouted and Tarma finally kicked the door down. There standing in the middle of the room is the demon itself, clutching the lifeless body of Ptolemaios in one hand and breathing fire from his mouth. Dead Ptolemiac soldiers laid about on the ground and now it's going after Dragunov and Yoshino.

“Dammit, did they finish ritual? If they did, then what's going on here?” said Eri and Tarma shook his head, “I would like to know that myself but their leader is dead.” The Demon caught Yoshino's hammer and summoned fire from his hand to make the hammer too hot to handle and he swipes his claws at her. There was shouting and the Demon turned to face Tarma, Eri, and Fio and let out a deep growl at them and swung a punch at them but they moved quickly out of the way.

“Marco, you got to fight this even if they did complete the ritual.” Fio yelled and yipped when a pair of claws came down on her. “You idiots! He won't be attacking us right now as we speak. We'll be making him attacking you and your friends.” Dragunov shouted back at her and she drew her combat knife and charged at the Demon, “Now we got a rogue Demon on our hands all because we got both the human and demon from within fighting with each other. Your friend's stubbornness is doing all of this.” She yelled when he sank his teeth into her arm and slam her into the ground. He turned to face Tarma, Eri, and Fio and licked his lips.

“What now, Tarma?” Fio looked at him with fear in her eyes and Tarma put his gun away and clench his fists. “All we got to do is fight off Yoshino and Dragunov till the cure is complete.”


	18. Chapter 18

Fio gasped and ducked away from the Demon's swinging tail, it took out a huge chunk of a pillar that came crashing down onto the ground cracking it upon impact and the Demon felt the butt of Dragunov's knife on the back of his head and he turned to shoot a ball of fire right at her. She made a quick roll away from the fireball and drew her gun out to aim but Eri came jumping in to kick the gun right out of her hands. The two women locked themselves in a hand in hand combat and Tarma took on both the Demon and Yushino. “It doesn't matter if you win or lose this battle for we already got what we wanted.” Yushino slammed her hammer down to cause the floor to shake and the Demon took flight to avoid the aftershock.

Breathing fire to cloak his whole body to shield himself from any bullets come firing at him from any side. “Trevor! What's the progress report on that cure?” Tarma asked him and he reflected Dragunov's combat knife and jumped away from her fierce and violent slashing, “We're halfway there to completion, Captain. The progress is going as fast as we want it to.” Trevor replied and Eri got sucker punched by Yoshino and Fio moved in to help out her friend in battle and dodging any swiping claws and tail from the Demon.

“You better tell that quack to move it faster since I don't know how long we can keep this fight up.” Tarma moved behind another pillar and he feels the stone's temperature rising rapidly and the faint glow grew bigger right before his eyes and scraping of claws against stone made it gave way and shattering into a pile of burning rubble. Tarma's quick reaction was to keep the Demon's jaws from chomping down onto his face and held it wide open even though he's taking the risk of getting a face full of fire doing it. The Demon roared and turned around when Dragunov shot it with a dart but it was futile and he crushed up her sniper gun with his swinging tail.

The battle has no end in sight and neither side has the upper hand in winning it and to make matters worse, they're running out of option, ammunition, and stamina to keep going. Even Yoshino is feeling her body aching and out of breath and she swung her hammer again but only to gasp when the Demon caught it with both hands and swung her around and slamming her against the ground and then melting a good chunk of her hammer off. “It's no use, Tarma. He's not going down and we're running out of time before the cure gets here.” Fio shouted and she yelled after getting badly kicked by the Demon.

Tarma hate to admit it but Fio is right, how long do they have left before the cure is made and they can finally end this nightmare. “Captain! Catch!” Tarma faced Trevor and catches the bottle of white like liquid into his hand. Dragunov and Yoshino both saw the cure in Tarma's hand and they ran after him but not before Eri and Fio stood in their way to keep them busy and Trevor and Tarma wrestled the beast to the ground with the help of Nadia clinging to his tail. “okay, time to take your medicine, Marco.” said Tarma after Trevor thrust the jaws open and Tarma poured the cure down his throat.

Yoshino and Dragunov let out a loud no with every last drop went into the Demon's mouth and they quickly back off in case it wanted to lash out at them but it didn't when it was too busy hacking and coughing. He was on his hands and knees with his wings spread out and he coughed up black colored bile vomiting from his mouth and the Squad looks in horror wondering if the cure is hurting him or helping him. His skin harden like a rock and everyone stood in silence and the air is filled with loud crackling and the Demon stopped moving.

They backed off when the wings shattered, the tail crumbled into dust and the stone like skin projectile itself everywhere and when the dust settled, falling to ground before them is Marco, back to his old self and knocked out. Their friend is cured and the Ptolemaic army's plan crushed right before their eyes. Dragunov cursed at them and Yoshino goes to retrieve the body of their leader to flee for now and they didn't stick around long enough to see the slime like substance rippling and taking the form of a demon and screeching for revenge on the PF Squad and Marco, with his last ounce of strength, he threw his grenade at it and watch it catch on fire from the explosion and turn to dust. Exhausted, Marco fell back down again and his friends ran toward him.

The Epilogue

Fio quietly opens the door to check on Marco. Tarma opened the door for her and let the little woman duck under his arm and they crept into his room to check up on their friend to see how he's doing. Marco is a fast asleep and already ate his second meal of the day. Eri picked up the empty tray and Fio set a fresh one down for him and Tarma and Trevor left him a pack of cigarette and a bottle of beer for him when he's feeling better and ready to join the guys in a drink. “Sweet dreams, Marco.” Fio smiled and they closed the door with a faintest click.

Awhile later, the smell of food waver around Marco's nose and he opened his eyes lazily and saw the food and beer with the cigarette pack next to it. He threw the covers to the side he sat up to eat his third meal of the day. He smiled when he read the kind letters his friends left him to read with their word of encouragement and wishing him to get well soon. He stored the letters in a nearby drawer by his bed and ate his meal. Once he was done, he took a warm shower and put on some fresh clothes before deciding what to do next.

It was late anyway and he could go back to sleep for now or work on his hobby but sleep was winning and his body was too achy to be sitting in front of a computer anyways. He sat himself back down and pulled the covers over and let sleep take him again till morning. As Marco peacefully slept, a haunting like melody played through the night and there was no one there to answer the call of the Demon Song.

Mission Complete

Thank you all for putting up with me after I acquired a job in October of 2017 and putting this story on a long hiatus and slowly working on it. I will be taking a break from writing Metal Slug fanfics it to pursue a teenage hood dream of wanting to write and create a series of Megaman fanfics under the series name, Beyond the Battle Network Line. I will be posting them later this month of December.


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